Return
by Evide
Summary: The Spirit's power is being taken away. The portal Lucemon had opened is closed. The challenge that they face may prove to be a whole new scavenger hunt. Home is the only thing to look forward to. But even then, one of them may not Return. haitus.
1. Chapter 1

_**Return**_

I present the multi-chapter adventure of the digimon frontier's _Return_. Updates will be irregular, and there is no set date on when _Return_ will be finished.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon frontier in any way, shape, or form.

Warnings: Action and drama throughout the story. For this chapter, nothing much at all.

Notes: Mild pairings; cannon-based character relationships will be shown

Major thanks to Zelta-chan who beta'd the first chapter and fixed it up to a greater level. I couldn't have done it without her.

_"Everything you've done, our world is being reborn. You've given us all a second chance... the Digital World has finally been put right, once again. Actually, it's even better than before. It can thrive again, now that it's free of evil. Well, at least for now." --Agunimon, episode 50; End of the Line, English dub._

_**-(Chapter 1: The Beginning)-**_

"The Gate has closed."

Agunimon's announcement made the group stand to attention, a sort of realistic gloom settling over them. He did not say a lot, but the power of his words, which practically cut off his praising speech right in the middle, were like a tidal wave of dread that crashed into them.

"What do you mean, 'the Gate closed'?" Takuya Kanbara, wielder of the Spirits of Flame and the unofficially claimed 'leader', took reign of the situation quickly. He could feel his groups' nervous energy radiating off of them like an aura. Of course, they would be on edge after just defeating the great and powerful ruler Lucemon, and notably eager to finally head home.

"The Gate that Lucemon opened." Kazemon said, her and all the other Spirits wearing the same grim look that made butterflies tumble in the digidestined's uneasy stomachs. Everyone was still floating in their places among the stars, the Spirits half-way see-through.

"Is that a bad thing?" Neemon, still oblivious as ever, tugged on Bokomon's waistband childishly, not noticing his annoyed glower. The white digimon's mouth opened to retort, but all words died in space when a Trailmon whistle broke through the clustered group.

"We'll talk more on the ride," Lobomon ushered the five young, human warriors inside Angler, some of them noticing the subtle disappearance of Ranamon, Grumblemon, Arbormon and Murcurymon. The four Spirit's semi-physical presents fading away to nothing without a purpose to keep them tied there.

"Ride where, exactly?" Kouji checked, not untrusting, but ever the careful one as all sat down with their respectable Spirits. Angler started slowly heading off towards the recuperating Digital World, running on the Trailmon tracks that had previously saved them all during one of Lucemon's first attacks.

"Tree of Beginnings." Lowemon seemed to smile under his mask, the five children now feeling almost excited.

"Why are we going there? What about going home?" Izumi flustered, having to be calmed by a pat on the shoulder from the Spirit of Darkness beside her before he replied.

"I can feel him. Kouichi is still alive."

* * *

Kouji was more than nervous, to say the least; he was feeling nervous, grumpy, happy, tired and irate all at once. There was only one thing that could ever do this to him, and that was the fact that he had an excruciating wait until he re-found his long-lost twin brother who died on the battlefield right in front of him and was now, apparently, alive here in the Digital World. And though he trusted Lowemon a lot, he couldn't be too hopeful until his brother was there with him once again.

The long-haired boy jumped up in his seat from the loud and sudden call at his side made by a certain, young, Ice Spirit wielder.

"I see him! I see him!" The group of five almost fell out of the Trailmon from leaning out the windows. Sure enough, there was a familiar dark-haired person waving at them in the distance.

"Nii-san!" Kouji called, smiling, yet his brows furrowed in uneasiness. He was so happy that he knew that his twin was okay, but... what if he wasn't? Was he hurt? Did he have bruises or cuts that he couldn't see from here? Did he feel bad? Kouji clutched the window pane worriedly, as if to try and control himself from jumping outside of the moving Trailmon.

Angler, along with the rest of the group and all the Spirits too, were not surprised that the wolf-boy was the first to rush out, not even waiting for the Trailmon to stop, of course. Kouichi giggled when he was swept up in a spinning hug, his feet lifting off the ground as strength returned to him, his worries fading from his shoulders. He had not noticed how awful he had felt without his twin until they were together again, and the same went through Kouji's mind as he sighed and set his brother down.

"I'm glad you're okay."

"I missed you, too." Kouichi shot his brother a meaningful smile and Kouji smiled gently with him.

"Kouichi!" the call made the boy turn to the others, a wide grin spreading over his face.

"Hey, guys--auff!" The shorter-haired twin's eyes widened when Junpei crushed him into a tight bear hug.

"We thought you were a goner!" the elder exclaimed as he set the other down on his feet.

"Yeah, buddy! You feeling alright?" Takuya pat the Warrior of Darkness on the back, relief radiating off of him. As the leader, he felt like he had to be particularly aware of his team, and having Kouichi back made everything seem a little easier to handle at the moment.

"Fine, fine." Kouichi grinned as Tomoki hugged his waist. "I'm just glad you all came out okay. You're the ones who fought Lucemon."

"Oh, Kouichi. You should have seen Susanoomon. It was thanks to you he was born in the first place!" Izumi cheered, unable to keep tears forming at the very edges of her turquoise eyes.

"Susanoomon?" Kouichi tested the name around his lips, picking up a giddy Neemon.

"The most superb being you could ever know! It was a one-in-a-life-time opportunity! We were all graced with seeing his fighting power!" Bokomon suddenly pulled out his book in excitement, writing down details.

"A miracle!" Chorused the three angels who came to hover around the newly recovered wielder of Darkness.

"A miracle..." Kouichi mumbled, eyes half-lidded. Kouji put a hand on his brother's shoulder to rouse him.

"So, everything is okay?" Kouji checked, reminded of how distracted his twin had been before, his 'dying' words now echoing inside his head.

"Yeah. I don't remember much of anything after Lucemon scanned me, but Gatomon says my data was reborn along with the rest of the world. So, I'm as good as new." Kouji couldn't help but feel that his twin's smile was only half-real and he made a mental note to get them alone that night for a talk.

"Gatomon? Who's that, Kouichi?" Izumi asked, not the only one to pick up the name as unfamiliar.

"Oh, I guess I should introduce you guys. Swanmon was reborn as a Gatomon." Kouichi turned to lead the way, happy to be accompanied by his alter-ego Lowemon on one side and his mirror image on the other. He was a little embarrassed when everyone hovered, but he couldn't blame that they must have felt weary over his condition. Not including that he was just a spirit, still. He would have to tell Kouji... eventually.

"Hello digidestined! So nice to see you again!" A cat-looking digimon with yellow and pink gloves stood on two legs to greet the children, bowing humbly to greet the Spirits also. She wore a yellow ring around her body that hung over her left shoulder, and a heart-like design was painted on her forehead.

"Swanmon, you're so cute!" Izumi squealed.

"It's Gatomon, now. I was reborn, just like everything else." She smiled, shaking Tomoki's hand, the boy being just eye-level with her.

"Aren't there a lot of baby digimon to take care of now, Gatomon?" Takuya wondered, the three angels gasping excitedly at the idea of playing with infant digimon.

"Actually, all digimon were reborn into their regular, or slightly lower-level forms." Gatomon raised a paw. "Like me. Otherwise, whenever the world has to start over, there would be too much chaos around here."

"Well, I guess that makes some sense," Junpei nodded as was thwapped harmlessly by Bokomon on his leg.

"Of course it makes sense, young man!" he said, waving his book.

"Guys, we're forgetting that we need some answers." All the Spirits seemed to shrink at Kouji's accusation, able to feel the young kids' piercing gazes.

"Yeah, tell us what's going on with this Gate thing." Tomoki put his hands on his hips, his overly-large hat unable to cover the view of his icy gaze.

"What Gate?" Kouichi suddenly asked, unaware of the new development

"We're not sure, either." Takuya said quickly, easing him a little.

"Why don't we all get a little something to eat first?" Kazemon fluttered over to follow Gatomon into the empty Tree of Beginnings, slowly being accompanied by the rest.

"Why do I feel that this topic isn't a good thing?" Takuya muttered under his breath as he shook his head.

When he and the other children entered the Tree, it was almost exactly like it had been before, only with a lot less eggs on the bushes (in fact, they saw none at all) and a lot less cries echoing around. It was weird to be inside with all the empty canopies and all the quiet, some of them shifting nervously as their Spirits hovered around on 'watch'. Gatomon quickly roused up some picnic food and milk and the gathered group had a familiar blanket laid under them to eat on.

"So, digidestined." Gatomon cleared her throat. "Do tell how you managed to beat Lucemon?"

"And about Susanoomon," Kouichi added with a small grin, gazing at his Spirit with a glitter in his eyes. So with Kouichi and Gatomon as the only listeners, the group told their story, the Spirits throwing in the minimalist amount of detail as all the kids talked on and on about the different parts. By the time they were well off of the subject and done with the conversation, it was already sunset.

"That fight must have worn you all out. You must be exhausted. I only have a few rooms, but take what you can." Gatomon humbly offered, showing the children the way to the 'rooms', which really weren't rooms at all.

"Are you telling me we're gonna sleep in treehouses?" Takuya groaned along with Izumi, all the rest looking just as distraught. It turned out the 'rooms' really _were _like treehouses; hammock-like outcrops nestled throughout the branches of the Tree of Beginnings.

"We'll leave tomorrow. Be happy with what you can get." Agunimon mumbled, then he and the rest of the Spirits shuffled off away from questions into the night like a pack of guards.

"I think I'd be happier on the ground." Junpei muttered to himself, though he climbed up anyway. Takuya had to share his space with Tomoki and Bokomon while the angels snuggled up with Izumi. Kouji and Kouichi were fine together and Neemon dropped asleep on top of Junpei's head. Most all of the children Warriors were sleeping within minutes, not realizing how tired they really had been until they finally settled down. The Tree of Beginnings had a calming effect on them and the refreshing breeze promised an energizing sleep, the leaves chiming little lullabies with the wind.

"Kouichi, are you asleep?"

"I wasn't the one battling Lucemon today. Get some rest, Kouji."

"No. Kouichi," Kouji clutched his brother's shoulder, and the elder knew that his twin wouldn't give up, so he would have to led up. "Tell me what's bothering you. There isn't anything to distract us, everything is safe here now, everything is reborn. But, there's still something wrong."

Kouichi turned to face his twin, gazing at the darkness-covered mirror image that was his brother, a deep concern etched into his features. Kouichi was amazed at how deep that concern ran, even after just meeting his twin. With his grandmother sick and his mother working all the time, he usually didn't get a lot of attention. So he felt special now that he lay under the gaze of his twin - someone who he could confide in, who had a connection with him deeper than anything.

"What did you mean when you said you weren't able to see us in the real world?" Kouji was someone he could tell the truth to, without fear.

"Kouji... I didn't get into the Digital World like you did." Kouichi started slowly, "And... well, I wasn't really sure how I got here before, and it's still a little hazy now..."

"What?" Kouji prompted and Kouichi gulped.

"I... I think I might have died to get here, Kouji. I'm just a spirit." Kouichi bit his lip at the sudden anger that came over Kouji's face, flinching when his younger brother took hold his hand.

"You're not dead! You aren't. When we get back to the Real World, I'll make sure everything is okay." Kouji tried to not growl, but the hot feeling in his throat made it hard not to. "I'll make sure."

"Still, I'm just a spirit here. I can't even get hurt." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, his brother went somewhat aggressive.

"You did get hurt! You... were killed. Scanned! Kouichi, don't think that you're safe because you're not!"

"I know that!" Kouichi suppressed a sniffle, hoping his brother would calm down before they fell out of the hammock-bed. "I know I'm not invulnerable because I'm already dead!"

There was sudden silence as Kouji realized that this may not be the best approach. He could see the hurt in his brother's eyes, hear the half-sniffles he tried to choke down, even as the edges of his eyes held onto tears. He deflated against his brother, taking some deep breaths as Kouichi sniffled aloud.

"You aren't dead. I'll make sure." Kouji repeated, wrapping a hand over his brother's back. Kouichi leaned into his twin, choking on more sniffles as the hand on his back made soothing motions.

"It's been a long day. Try to get some sleep, Nii-san."

There was silence and Kouichi's breathing slowly evened out and calmed. Just when Kouji suspected his brother to be sleeping, he heard a faint whisper.

"...Thanks."

And then they both fell asleep.

* * *

"The Digital World is being set right, once again. Life is being renewed as we know it."

"Agunimon! You told us all this already!" A grumpy Takuya Kanbara was exceptionally irate at his Spirit's recorded message being replayed first thing in the morning, just as the sun started to flutter in over the horizon and make most eyes squint. The Spirit of Fire knew this and only nodded, trying to keep the peace.

"Yes, all things are being reborn, including not only Kouichi and other Digimon," The boy stiffened at his name, afraid of drawing unnecessary attention to him, but Agunimon went on quickly. "But the Gate as well."

"What is it about this Gate thing, then? It's not like it's the reason we can't go home...right?" Junpei prompted the initiating question, all hoping to receive some reasonable answers.

"Actually, I'm afraid it is." Kazemon frowned as she watched the six human children slump in their places around a small meeting table. Gatomon was currently not present while she checked for new eggs on her bushes, going around with a watering can to sprinkle life over her garden and give the Legendary Warriors some privacy.

"But don't get worked up about it." Beetlemon added in, "There's an easy way to open up the Gate, so no worries." He shoved the eldest boy on the shoulder, willing a giddy grin from him.

"Then what is it?" Tomoki prompted.

"The ten keys, of course." Bokomon replied, hoping up onto Lobomon's lap for emphasis, but was quickly pushed down.

"Where do we find them?"

"And how do we know what they look like?" Kouichi and Kouji asked.

"That's the problem. No one knows where they are--"

"or how to find them,"

"or what the keys look like." Lopmon, Patamon and Salamon replied together.

"Great. Another wild goose chase," Izumi sighed

"No, actually not!" Bokomon protested, "Whoever wields their fusion evolution will be able to find the key."

"But that's only two of us." Takuya pointed to Kouji who nodded along with his friend.

"That means the rest of us get fusion evolutions too, then!?" Tomoki piped eagerly, a smile widening across his face.

"I thought that power only came from Seraphimon?" Izumi tilted her head as she remembered how both Beowulfmon and EmperorGreymon were born from the power boost sent by Seraphimon's egg.

"Well, yeah..." Kumamon scratched his round head, the other Spirits also confused.

"Maybe... the power will come only when we really need it...?" Kouichi suggested.

"But we don't need our Spirits now. Everything is peaceful, isn't it?" Takuya argued, frustration boiling up inside him.

"Maybe not as peaceful as Agunimon makes it seem." Lobomon growled and Agunimon felt sweat drip down his face.

"Okay, well... whatever we need to do, let's do it and get back home." Everyone cheered along with the fire warrior, wearing smiles and hope dancing in their eyes. Kouji was happy to see even his brother jump into the cheer with him, and everything was okay.

_**-(to be continued)-**_

_Return_shall include the Japanese names of the frontier kids, along with some Japanese nick-names (Nii-san; "older brother") and maybe some suffixes added. All Digimon's names and most Villages will be referred in English.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Return**_

I happily announce the second chapter of _Return_. Updates (hopefully short ones) will continue be irregular, and there is still no decided date one when Return will finish.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon frontier in any way, shape, or form.

Notes: mild pairings; mostly based on Cannon. Brotherly love will be emphasized.

_"Everyone... Though we haven't been together for very long... ...thank you. When I go back to the human world... ...I won't see you there. Everyone! Please, protect our world! Most likely, I'm... I'm no more." --Lowemon, episode 48; Light and Darkness are One! Kouichi's Last Wish, Japanese sub. The Brothers of Yin and Yang, English dub title_

_**-(Chapter 2: The Dilemma)-**_

The frontier took their time to relax and hang around their Spirits for the day, devising loose plans of travel across the Digital World. While huddled together against the Tree of Beginnings, the kids gave out suggestions, trying to figure out their plan of action.

"Since there are ten keys to represent each element, wouldn't it make sense if the Fire key was in Flame Town? The Light key would be in Ophanimon's castle in the Continent of Light and the Dark key would be in the Continent of Darkness." Takuya (with his oh-so-brilliant mind) thought that logically, the elemental keys would be in their elements.

"Takuya, we didn't find our Spirits in their corresponding Continents." Kouji's arms crossed over his chest. "The keys are probably hidden and guarded by Digimon that we'll need to fight."

"C'mon, Kouji! Don't you think we might have a better chance at finding the _Water key _on the water? Doesn't that make sense?" Takuya stressed, trying to emphasize his point with grandiose gestures. Kouji had to knock his hand away once or twice, feeling his eye twitch at their 'leader'.

"Kouji, the world is peaceful." Kouichi caught Kouji from slapping his friend up the side of the head. "There wouldn't be any Digimon trying to fight us. The angels said nobody knows where the keys are, much less is there anyone guarding them."

"How are we supposed to fight with our Spirits still all spirity, anyway?" Izumi questioned, her brows furrowed in worry as she glanced at Kazemon.

"Don't worry. When the time comes, we're going to have to revert back into your D-Tectors, anyway." The news left the group feeling slightly saddened, yet oddly excited. Facing another journey would give them time to say goodbye, and a chance to fix up any last problems with the reborn World.

Lowemon and Lobomon simultaneously stepped forward, but whatever they were going to announce was buried underneath a sudden screech emitting from a familiar feline. The children, instantly on alert, ran instinctively towards Gatomon, but had to stop when they all realized that they had no power to evolve.

"Intruder! Get out, now!" There was a crash and some of the group couldn't help but cringe. Swanmon was bad enough, but now a hissing kitty-cat?

"Please! Listen to me, Gatomon!" The Spirits started ahead, but paused once they got sight of the situation. By the looks of it, Gatomon was hassling a little blue Veemon dressed in a train conductor's outfit. His hands were raised over his head as Gatomon scowled down at him with menace.

"Woah, Gatomon! Let's just hear him out, 'kay?" Takuya quickly raced forward to end the dispute, Gatomon realizing that the 'intruder' was just an innocent messenger.

The Veemon tried to collect itself, standing with Izumi's help. "Digidestined, please! You have to come to Steel Town right away!" He flailed back to the ground, gripping onto Izumi's skirt pleadingly. The Spirits shook their heads, finding the scene most degrading.

"What? Why's that?" Tomoki asked.

"Unimon! They're all over, attacking the town. Please, you have to help! Angemon sent me to find you warriors. Please!"

The group gave each other sideways glances, not sure if a fight would be their best option at the moment. Their Spirits hadn't given an exact time-frame for when they might revert, so there was no guarantee that they would be battle-ready once at the town.

"Takky, what do you think?" Junpei finally prompted, and Takuya sweat-dropped, realizing that as the leader, he was going to have to make the call.

"Well... Steel Town _might_ have the Steel key... and we'll be protecting it all at the same time. So I say, lead the way."

The others nodded in agreement and Veemon's eyes sparkled.

"Oh, thank you, digidestined! Thank you!"

The group was ushered quickly inside Blue Trailmon, Gatomon accompanying them as they boarded.

"Thanks for everything, Gatomon." Izumi said to the feline, who smiled sincerely.

"Yeah, thanks a lot." Kouichi echoed as he followed his brother onto the Trailmon.

"Goodbye, digidestined! Have a safe trip!" Gatomon stood waving on the platform as the Tailmon took off. "And Veemon, don't you dare crash this Trailmon!!"

Veemon was the conductor of the Blue Worm, headed towards Steel Town from the Tree of Beginnings. But even on a straight course, the children wouldn't arrive until the next morning. The group huddled in on one train compartment, all sitting alongside their Spirits and all a little anxious.

"Well, now that we have the chance, wasn't there something you wanted to say?" Junpei started, turning to the Warriors of Light and Darkness.

"Oh, that's right." Kouichi muttered, looking up at his partner. "You were going to say something, weren't you? What was it?"

Lobomon was the one to answer, "You should all be careful when evolving now."

"Why's that?" Kouji asked, crossing his arms.

Agunimon sighed heavily, all the kids turning to look at him. "Your power--our power--was at its height when fighting Lucemon." He started.

"And as you can see," Beetlemon piped next, "we are now semi-physical thanks to your strength." He showed off a sparking, see-through fist to demonstrate.

Kumamon spoke up, "The more you fight, the more solid we'll become."

"And the more strength we'll take away from you." Lowemon sent Kouichi a glance, making him fidget slightly with the feeling that this was very important for him to hear.

"Even within the D-Tectors." Kazemon added, seeing some of the chosen adorn confused faces.

"But it's not like we want to do that." Agunimon held up his hands and sighed. "It's just going to happen. So, be sure to evolve as little as possible. And I mean that!" He stressed, almost glaring at each of the kids to get his point across.

"And Kouichi," Lowemon whispered, catching his attention, "Know that the more you use my power, the more you will disappear. You're spirit will fade away to give me strength. I don't want that to happen." Kouichi turned white on the spot, knowing the others were now wanting answers from him. How was he going to tell them all he was just a spirit? Lowemon just spilled the beans.

"Oh, Kouichi, don't get like that!" Bokomon suddenly shouted and Kouichi flinched, pulling up his legs. To his knowledge, only Kouji understood that he was just a spirit. "I've alredy informed your friends about what Crusadermon said to you."

"...oh thanks a ton, Bokomon." Kouichi hid his eyes, feeling a sea of dread crawl up his spine. But the others could tell Kouichi felt uncomfortable, so all stayed quiet. Uneasy silence continued to haunt the train for a long while, the time used to look out the window towards Steel Town. By nightfall, Kouichi had fallen asleep on the cushion and the kids were all watching their Spirits for some sort of sign. Things were quiet.

"Hey, Tomoki," Kumamon whispered, the boy surprised to be brought into a bear hug by his see-through Spirit. "Thanks for being the wielder of my Spirits. You're a really awesome kid."

"Aw, shucks, Kumamon. You're a really cool Spirit. Does this mean you're leaving?" The little boy asked, holding onto the other's paw.

"Just going back into your D-Tector. You sure are perceptive. Just remember to try and not evolve, okay? Good luck." And Kumamon slowly dissolved into little digital streams and entered the boy's D-Tector, Tomoki smiling at it fondly.

"Junpei, be sure to look out over everyone. You're the eldest, understand? You're the toughest!" Beetlemon encouraged and Junpei smiled.

"I knew it all along. Don't worry about it, Beetlemon."

"Never." And Beetlemon returned to the eldest boy's D-Tector.

"Kazemon, thanks for everything." Izumi held her Spirit's hands and smiled.

"Thanks to you, too. As the only girl around, you gotta be strong, got it?" Kazemon smiled.

"Got it!"

"Take care of your brother, Kouji." Lobomon muttered, giving the younger twin a pat on the shoulder. The boy couldn't help a smirk and nodded.

"I'm not gonna let anything happen to him."

"Good."

"Kouji," Lowemon started to fade along with Lobomon, reaching out for the boy. "Tell Kouichi good luck for me."

"Yeah. No problem, Lowemon." He nodded seriously and he could have sworn Lowemon smiled under his mask before they both dissolved.

"Well, Agunimon, you're the only one left." Takuya mumbled, giving his Spirit a hug.

"Hey, are you trying to get rid of me?" Agunimon laughed along with his partner and Takuya shook his head.

"Never. You're an awesome Spirit."

"Well, you're an awesome kid, and you've got a lot of spunk. You'll do fine, I know it. And remember, we're always here." Then Agunimon slowly faded away, Takuya smiling all the while.

They all knew that there would be times when they would have to evolve, especially if they were going to fight at Steel Town. They just had to hope that they could get the keys in time before all their strength ran out. Uneasily, the kids settled into a light sleep, awaiting their arrival to an old, familiar, Steel Town.

_**-(to be continued)-**_

Excuse the wait and the awkwardness of the final paragraphs. This was a basic filler-chapter, and action scenes will be longer and better.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Return**_

Announcing the third addition to _Return._ I plan Updates within two-week periods (at least, until summer ends). And though _Return_ **will** finish, I'm not sure when.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Frontier in any way, shape, or form.

Notes: mild pairings, mostly based on cannon and some others. Mostly friendship and brotherly love.

Warnings: There _is_ a fight in this chapter. Nothing major at all. But just be fore-warned.

_"That is our dream. To invade the human world, and make the humans our subjects. You promised us, Lucemon-sama. When you returned, you would grant us the key." --Crusadermon, episode 47; The Royal Knights Fall - And then...!! Japanese sub. When Knights Fall, English dub title_

_**-(Chapter 3: The Steel Trap)-**_

Being the first to fall asleep, Kouichi was naturally the first one to awaken. He was about to panic when he didn't see the Spirit's corporal forms, when their conversation from the night before returned to his awakening mind.

_"The more you use the Spirits of Darkness, the more you will disappear."_

Kouichi shivered at the thought of... disappearing. Obviously, that meant that his data or his spirit or whatever would eventually break down and he would die again. He would be absorbed or something, but he had no idea what would happen after that. The only reason he was able to be reborn the last time was because his spiritual data had been scanned along with Lucemon and then brought back to life. At least, that was how Gatomon had explained it to him.

And then there was something else Kouichi had the time to think about now. Where he _really_ was. _"If I'm a spirit still... then whatever happened to my body? I wonder... where am I?" _Kouichi felt awkward asking himself these questions, because the answer should have been "I'm in the Digital World" but... it really wasn't. Trying to think about what happened when he missed Kouji at the elevator made a point above his left eye throb. Then to focus on what happened when he 'died' made him shiver with ache.

"Good morning, Kouichi." The boy turned in surprise to find the only female member stretching out on the couch across from him, smiling. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I guess. Did you sleep okay?" They were whispering to one another, making sure not to disturb the others from their slumber. Who knew when they'd be able to get somewhere even half as comfortable to sleep next? Or even when they'd be able to sleep at all?

"Yeah, but it was hard getting to sleep." She admitted, gazing guiltily at the dark-haired boy. When he gave her a quizzical look and didn't speak, she sighed. "I feel really bad about you being a spirit, Kouichi-kun."

"Oh," he ducked his head away, then looked out of the windows to the sunrise. "Izumi?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you... um... when did Bokomon tell you, exactly?" He turned back to the girl, and she was wearing a small, reassuring smile.

"Please don't be mad, but he told us when we were on the meteor. You know, after Lucemon scanned the Royal Knights?"

Kouichi narrowed his eyes at the memory, at how Lucemon didn't even hesitate to absorb his follower's data, not even caring for their loss. He remembered how Kouji had tried to save Takuya from one of Lucemon's attacks, but then got injured in the process. Then the three angels had brought his brother and Takuya back safely... where he almost told Kouji everything.

"Yeah."

"Do you mind me asking what you were talking about? Bokomon said that he knew, and that's how he told us, but..." Izumi faltered, biting her lip a little.

"Actually... I didn't tell Kouji I was a spirit until two nights ago. On the meteor we were talking about... well, I told him about my--our mom."

"Oh, so he didn't know?" The girl was a bit surprised. She would have suspected that Kouichi had told Kouji as soon as it was bothering him... but then again, she remembered all the times where Kouji asked what was wrong and then never seemed to get an answer.

"No. And he must have been worried sick about me, too. I'm really sorry." Izumi reached over to give Kouichi's hand a sympathetic squeeze, smiling kindly at him.

"Don't worry about that now." She said reassuringly. "Everything's okay now."

Despite himself, Kouichi blushed a little, muttering a kind 'thanks' in return before shifting his gaze out the window. Izumi grinned to herself then looked over the forms of her sleeping friends. As she was doing so, she found that Junpei was finally stirring, yawning and wiping his eyes as he woke.

"Ah, mornin', Izumi-chan." Junpei flashed the girl a bright, somewhat-flirtatious grin and she rolled her eyes. "Are we there yet?"

"Almost there, kiddos!" The Blue Trailmon whistled loudly, effectively waking the last three digidestined along with the digimon.

"And I was having a good dream, too..." Takuya grumbled, rubbing his temples just as Tomoki covered his ears from the screeching.

"Yay! We're almost there, we're almost there, we're almost there!" The three angles spun in a little circle together, giggling despite the fact that they had just been rudely woken up.

"Bokomon, why so gloomy?" Junpei noticed the little white digimon sulking against the benches, and not pulling at Neemon's waistband (the yellow digimon whining and complaining annoyingly).

"Oh, it's nothing, Junpei." He sighed, climbing onto the bench-couch next to him. "Actually, something is bothering me."

"Yeah?" Junpei and now Takuya and Tomoki looked at their white companion with interest, somewhat concerned.

Bokomon sighed once more, then hopped across to where Kouichi and Kouji were sitting. "My dear boy," He turned to the elder twin, "I'm... sorry." The digimon shook his head as if ashamed.

"Bokomon," Kouichi pat the other's head, "Thank you for telling the others."

Everyone looked up at him and Bokomon's mouth opened in a silent 'what?'.

"If you hadn't... I might never have." Kouichi admitted, "and I'm sorry for all the worry I've caused you all."

"Hey, hey." Takuya waved his hands in front of the quieter boy, "You're our friend. We have every right to worry over ya." Takuya smiled and Kouichi slowly returned it as Kouji's arm found itself around his elder brother's shoulders.

"Hey all!" The Trailmon whistled, "We're here! Steel Town!"

Veemon the conductor was leading the digidestined through a somewhat-familiar Town, where the city was rebooting into mini steel apartments and silver stores. The Legendary Warriors were welcomed as the Town's heroes, as all the residents remembered their defeat of the Centarumon and never properly thanked them before. Some of them would try to give the humans presents or would ask for assistance, and the streets were so crowded that they were thankful they had Veemon along with them.

"Please, out of the way!" the conductor spread out his clawed hands, "We're looking for Angemon!"

The crowd before them started to murmur, then slowly they spread away to show a majestic humanoid angel digimon. One that was very familiar to the group.

"Angemon!" they all shouted excitedly, said digimon suddenly receiving hugs from Bokomon, Neemon and the three angel digimon.

"Digidestined, I thank you for your return."

"Angemon, what's going on?" Izumi bit at her lip, the others tense around her, waiting for an answer.

The angel digimon sighed, "You remember the Centarumon from your previous time here? They were reborn, but are no more good than before. They have been taking advantage of the insecurities of the new Steel Town and have been attacking as Unimon." Some of the children wore sour expressions as Angemon continued, "We have minimal defenses, and the Legendary Warriors would be a welcome force."

The group gave each other uneasy glances before Takuya stepped up slightly as the leader. "So, you're saying that we need to stick around to fight?"

"Yes, will you stay?"

Another group glance. "The thing is, Angemon," Tomoki spoke up, "We can't really... well, we can, but we aren't supposed to evolve too much." The little brunette frowned at Angemon's distressed face, and the group could see him trying to work out the cogs in his mind.

But then there was a sudden loud, crying alarm that rang out all over the city, and all the resident digimon started to panic, even Angemon going a little pale.

"What's going on?" Junpei turned in his place, trying to find some disturbance. All anyone saw was the disappearing of digimon off the street and then a sort of dust cloud headed towards the town.

"The Unimon are coming." Kouji said bluntly, his hand hesitating over his pocket. Their digimon companions started to freak out and huddle together, making a mess out of themselves.

"The Town will be attacked!" Angemon lifted into the sky, his staff clutched protectively in front of him. "Please, digidestined! I need help!"

Izumi was the one who finally pulled her D-Tector out of her pocket, turning to the others. "Takuya, Junpei, we have to fight. We can fly. The others are grounded, so save up your strength." The two brunettes that were addressed had no choice but to nod, the other three faltering.

"What are we gonna do now?" Tomoki asked as the others evolved into Aldamon, Beetlemon and Zephyrmon and took flight along with Angemon in a nice diamond formation. The twins exchanged looks, then the three of them, plus the digimon left behind, looked towards to giant dusty mass at the edge of the Town.

"I have an idea." Kouichi spoke up, and his companions could practically see the light bulb go off above his head. "Let's try to rally all of the winged digimon around and convince them to battle. They can help beat the Unimon."

Kouji looked a little skeptical, but Tomoki agreed right away. "Okay, Kouichi! Let's split up, we'll cover more ground." The three children nodded, then split up along with the digimon to rush over the Town, delivering the message. Hopefully, it would be enough.

* * *

Having experienced the thoughtless battle of the Centarumon from what seemed like forever ago, plus defeating Lucemon, the three flying warriors were not worried about the Unimon. The dust had appeared from the horse digimon diving to attack and then kicking up into flight again, where their tight formation seemed hard to penetrate. Instead of what they had presumed to be a 'take them out and go home' kind of fight, turned out to be a very thought-out, very puzzling kind of mini-War. While Lucemon had been _one _evil to focus on, all the Unimon were working like a well-oiled machine together. Every move of one seemed to be echoed by all the others, making it that much harder to focus on the individual. It was kind of like trying to catch a minnow with one's bare hands.

"These things are slipping away like fish!" Beetlemon exclaimed appropriately, his Thunder Fist hitting a few Unimon and sending them back within sparks of electricity.

"Hurricane Gale!" Izumi, along with the other three, were in shock that the Unimon were able to not receive damage from Zephyrmon's sharp, wind-blown feathers and she faltered.

"Aerial Shocker!" A ball of energy previously growing within the mouths of seven triangle-organized Unimon shot out and hit their four targets near their wings and shoulder-area, making them all cringe.

"Jeeze, these guys really know how to fight." Aldamon grumbled, his firing arms slowly building up an Atomic Inferno attack. The fireball missiles hit a few of the Unimon, but none were backing down; they took the pain as a group rather than let one Unimon deal with it all.

"Horn Thrust!" Angemon was suddenly faced with three different Unimon all at different sides, and he had to take a hit from one if he wanted to dodge the others. Izumi gasped when Angemon was left with a burnt hole in his wing, the Angel fighter clenching his jaw tightly.

"We can't keep this up!" Beetlemon shouted, lifting higher into the sky to avoid a group gallop attack, only to be ambushed from above with a few Aerial Dives. "Aaah!"

"Beetlemon!" Zephyrmon used her speed to catch Beetlemon's fall, and as soon as he regained his head the girl was charging through the air, bearing her plasma pods. The few that she did hit finally went down and while she was distracted by her victory, she was winded by a horn in her exposed gut. The three other fighters were too busy fighting off Unimon to help her, but all could see another attack in the making, and it was not going to be pretty.

"Aerial Shock--woah!" The Unimon were thrown out of their huddled stance by a group of Biyomon, their feathers ruffled and their eyes aflame.

"Biyomon?" Zephyrmon took her chance to glance downwards, catching sight of Kouichi, Kouji, Tomoki and their digimon companions all waving up at them. "Hey, thanks guys!" She called, then was off to join the five-strong Biyomon pack, working like the Unimon had and carefully throwing groups of the bad horses away from their teams.

"Hey, Izumi's got the right idea!" Aldamon noticed, backing up Beetlemon's Proton Slam with an Atomic Inferno. "Okay, Beetlemon, I'm gonna give 'em a big one!"

"Go it! I'll cover ya." Aldamon gave a short nod and started to grow fire within his hands, thankful for Beetlemon's extra power. But the elder boy was worried he wouldn't be able to hold off all the Unimon trying to stop Takuya's attack, and he almost was going to yell this to his friend when an attack soared his way. He lifted his gauntlets for protection but the energy was intercepted by another force and Beetlemon looked down at the new addition with thankful eyes. "Thanks, man."

"Silphymon," It corrected, smirking under its grey visor. "And no problem. Astral Laser!" A duplicate of Silphymon's body was created and fired at their opponent and Beetlemon stared on in awe.

"Okay guys, watch it!" Aldamon called, turning to where his attack would be most useful and waiting for his friends to move away. "Solar Wind Destroyer!!" The dense fireball hurled right in the middle of the Unimon and most of them were vaporized right down to their eggs. The scattered ones that were left were totally petrified, and even more so by the sight of something silvery and glowing that floated through the center of the battle.

"Wh... what is that?" Zephyrmon asked hesitantly, her and the Biyomon frozen in their place. Aldamon, Beetlemon and Silphymon went to join Angemon for extra cover just in case, the angel Digimon having been accompanied by Patamon and a few Hawkmon in his struggle. The only digimon who looked completely nonchalant was Angemon, a smile playing over his angelic face.

"Do not worry. We are in no threat."

"Angemon, you know what that thing is?" Aldamon asked uneasily, tensing as all the Unimon started to shake.

"The key to this town. It presents itself to only the most powerful warriors."

"The key? The Fractal Code key?" Beetlemon scratched his head, but Angemon only chuckled.

"Not that key. The Steel key. I'm sure you could use it on your quest, am I correct?" In a last burst of energy, the circular silver object gave off a blinding, refreshing light, driving off the last of the Unimon and forcing the three Legendary Warriors to return to the ground and devolve. For some reason, a headache had formed in the back of their heads and all the energy had drained from their bodies, too.

"Aw, man... I feel sick." Junpei groaned, rubbing his head and then his stomach and looking a little flushed, Takuya in a similar state.

"Yeah, you and the rest of us. You alright, Izumi?" Takuya addressed the girl, who looked a little dizzy sitting on the ground. The were sure that if they stood up, they wouldn't be able to walk very straight that moment.

"Yeah, I'm okay." She reassured, gazing off almost lazily, but she was looking for the rest of their group. "I suppose this is what de-digivolving will be like from now on." Takuya groaned at the thought, taking off his hat-and-goggles that he felt were squeezing his head too much.

"Guys! Are you okay?" Tomoki rushed up first, worriedly biting his lip at his older friends that sat disoriented on the ground.

"We're fine, Tomoki." Takuya assured, smiling groggily. He slowly realized that the twins were trailing behind rather unhurriedly, looking like Kouji was practically holding up his elder brother on their way.

"Hey, Kouji, Kouichi. What's up?" Junpei unsteadily climbed to his feet, Takuya standing after him and then the both of them helping Izumi back up.

"Kouichi-kun got a headache." Lopmon offered helpfully, him and the other digimon crowding around the humans in definite worry.

"Oh, were is Patamon?" Salamon wondered, quickly checking the sky.

"And Angemon?" Izumi searched a bit harder, but it only hurt her head more.

"Hey, is that them?" Neemon pointed and the group was surprised to actually find their friends in the direction that the yellow digimon pointed.

"Papamom!" Patamon bolted into Bokomon's awaiting arms as they laughed together. Takuya smiled, then turned towards Angemon with gratification.

"Thank you for all your help. I trust that the Unimon will not bother us any longer." The Angel spoke happily.

"And if they do, we'll stick around to fight." Silphymon gave a thumbs up and so too did Junpei.

"That's great and all, but whatever happened to that silver thing?" Kouji grumbled, Kouichi looking almost sleepy against the his shoulder.

"Ah, yes." Angemon pulled out a silvery, shining, sphere-like item, the group getting headaches from just thinking about looking at it. "The Silver key of Steel Town. I hope this helps your return home."

"Thanks." Takuya took the glassy key and felt a pulse. Then, after a moment of throbbing pressure, the headaches went away and the Fire Warrior was able to look at the thing without harm.

"Shiny!" Neemon cheered, throwing his hands up into the air.

"Kouichi, you feeling okay there, buddy?" Takuya now noticed that Kouichi didn't seem any less tired and pained then before and it started to worry him.

"Yeah. I just got a headache. I'll be fine," he assured truthfully, giving a half-hearted grin to quell the other's worries.

"The key gave off a weird pulse." Izumi said, her brows furrowed.

"Yeah, all the keys do that. Usually for protection." Patamon explained helpfully, fluttering up to the Darkness warrior. "Only those who are in-tune to the spiritual plane can really feel it."

The frontier children looked somewhat relieved, but then also worried at the same time, all glancing at Kouichi out of the corner of their eyes.

"Kouichi-kun feels them a lot, probably." Lopmon added, going over to hug the boy's leg in a kind of comfort.

"Well then," Takuya spoke up, "where to next, Ichi?" The dark-haired boy stiffened from the attention, but tried to relax and focus on any outside pressure. Surprisingly, he could feel a faint pulse, different than how the steel felt, within the back of his mind. And even odder, he could actually pin-point at which direction it was coming from, too.

"Over that way, actually." He pointed and opened his eyes, flushing a little as everyone turned to where he was pointing and then back to him.

"Are you sure, Nii-san?" Kouji raised an eyebrow skeptically, but then remembered that Kouichi's plan from before had been just what the others needed to win.

"In that direction is the water." Angemon noticed and the group looked hopeful.

"Well, it's better than no direction, right?" Junpei prompted and then Izumi giggled.

"_Perfecto!_" The girl smiled and picked up Salamon, starting to run in the direction. "Let's go to the beach!" and she was off, the rest right behind.

_**-(to be continued)-**_

Name: Unimon

Level: Champion

Attribute: Vaccine

Type: Phantom Beast

Attacks: Holy Shot, Horn Thrust, Protect

**Aerial Shocker** (_Holy Shot_): Shoots an energy ball from his mouth toward his enemy.

**Horn Thrust**: Strikes with his horn.

**Aerial Gallop** (_Uni Gallop_): Charges the enemy in an aerial dive.

**Aerial Attack**/**Ethereal Attack**: Charges the enemy when surrounded of a shining aura

_"his firing arms slowly building up an Atomic Inferno attack"_-- Aldamon has two weapons on his arms, used to shoot Atomic Inferno. Based on Wikipedia (which I understand does not give very accurate information all the time) the name of the weapons is 'Rudori Tarpana'.

So, the battle went a totally different way than I expected, but I like how it came out. There was going to be more emphasis on Kouichi's headache, but I guess I'll just reveal more about that later on. The Izumi-Kouichi bonding scene at the beginning was perfect for a suggestion from Miss Anonymous hp, so I thank her for that. And I hope you all liked it.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Return**_

Announcing the FOURTH addition to _Return_. And though _Return_ **will** finish, I'm not sure when, and I don't know how I am going to plan updates for school (starting Sept. 4th for me). But it shan't be ..._too_ long. Hopefully I can get Chapter 5 out early.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Frontier in any way, shape, or form.

Notes: mild pairings, mostly based on cannon and some others. Mostly friendship and brotherly love.

Warnings: This chapter doesn't have a lot of action like last chapter, but it has some drama.

_"That girl... I never forgave her! That girl was so cruel... it's all right, though... I couldn't throw her away... And I'm still alone. I couldn't be lonely, so... so I want to become kinder--! And stronger!" --Izumi Orimoto episode 26; Ranamon's Tenacity! Female Digimon Personal Combat!, Japanese sub; Zoe's Unbeelievable Adventure, English dub. title_

_**-(Chapter 4: The Lake)-**_

Both Takuya and Izumi were excited to be heading towards the water (and apparently, the only lake on the Continent of Steel), though they were happy for different reasons. The former was hoping to find the water key (still sticking to his theory, even more hyped up from finding the Steel key at Steel Town), while the later was looking forward to spending some nice relaxation on the beach like with the Toucanmon.

"Izumi, there isn't any guarantee that we can afford to relax." Kouji muttered, the dark-haired boy having shifted into paranoid skeptical mode since Kouichi had gotten his headache. The elder twin still seemed a little tired, but at least the ones who had evolved from before were doing okay with their energy.

Izumi couldn't stop from giggling, "Aw, chill out, Kouji!" she was skipping up ahead, very happy for the fresh air, practically pulling the group along.

"Yeah, c'mon buddy." Takuya seemed to agree with their female member and he was happily bouncing around just as much as she was. "Don't be such a party-pooper. The water will be real nice."

Tomoki was giggling also, his inner childishness bubbling out of him. "Izumi seems really happy! I wanna see the water, too."

"We're looking for the keys, not sunshine." Kouji tucked his hands into his pockets sourly, the only one looking somewhat ageering being Kouichi who was dragging himself along behind his brother.

Junpei sighed, looking to be contemplating a fond memory. "But didn't you like the Toucanmon the last time? Why can't you just relax a little more!"

Kouji didn't bother to answer, knowing he was outnumbered, so instead fell back to assist Kouichi in climbing up the hill they were on.

"Well, according to Angemon's coordinates, over this hill should be the Lake." Bokomon was walking along with his head buried in his book, able to not stumble by the help of his pink-belted Patamon steering him from on top of his head. Neemon was happy to chase Salamon up the grassy slope, starting a mini game of tag with Tomoki while the last of the angels watched them.

"Kouji, are you really skeptical about following this premonition of mine?" Kouichi suddenly asked, his eyes trailing up the hill to follow his friends.

Kouji only smirked at his brother, holding onto the elder's arm carefully. "Sure I am. If I'm not, no one else will be."

"Mm-hmm." Kouichi smiled and moved his arm to grasp his brother's hand instead, the two of them hurrying to catch up when Izumi reached the top.

The girl clapped her hands together, eyes sparkling. "Oh! How pretty! _Quanto grazioso!_"

Takuya was staring at the mass before him, slack-jawed. "I agree!" Then the fire warrior whooped as he ran down, Izumi by his side.

Tomoki ran the rest of the way up, cheering and immediately heading downwards when he caught sight of the lake. "It looks like cotton candy!"

Intrigued, Junpei stepped up the pace and picked up Neemon and Salamon. When they saw the rolling hills and the lake stretched out below, they all were shouting,"It looks great, it looks great, it looks really really great!"

The twins glanced at eachother and followed Bokomon to the very top of the hill to finally get a view of their friends rushing downwards. The sight was surprising, though... because in place of _water_ were rolling, pink, sparkling clouds.

Kouichi blinked a few times, as if unable to comprehend the sight as absolutely real. "Er, what is that?"

Kouji looked like he was going to answer, but a sudden, strangled gasp from his feet made him pause. Bokomon looked up from his book, shouting at the top of his little lungs. "STOP!! Don't go near that! Don't touch it! Oh dear goodness, STOP!"

But Bokomon's cry came too late. Izumi was already screeching, her legs buried below the knees in sparkling material, and she quickly retreated with the help of Takuya who stood at the edge. The boys looked absolutely terrified when the wind warrior stepped out with cuts adorning previously-flawless legs, and Izumi was just as horrified.

"Oh dear. Now that's cut up for you." Bokomon muttered when he finally reached the huddled group. Izumi sat on the ground, thankful that Junpei was wrapping up the wounds with bandages.

"What _is _that stuff?" Kouichi asked once more, gazing quietly at the long stretch of pink.

"I'm so sorry I didn't read this earlier," Bokomon set down his book as if for a visualization, but there were no pictures and no readable signs. "The only lake in the continent of Steel was first made of cut glass. Fibers, spun mostly for the purpose of insulation. It didn't turn into a real lake until the Ancient Warrior of Water purified the region."

"A lake of fiberglass!? What the heck!" Junpei growled, biting off a strip of cloth in anger before he tied it around one of Izumi's cut. Tomoki looked distressed, glancing up at Takuya curiously when he started to do some sort of funky dance.

"Takuya, what are you doing?" Tomoki asked carefully as the older brunette fell to the ground with his hands spread out - as if he was looking for something.

"My D-Tector! I just had it, and now I can't find it!" His eyes kept trailing back to the waves of pink, worriedly searching his pants and shirts over and over.

Patamon gasped, "You can't have lost it in the lake!" And Takuya went a little pale.

"I--I don't know! I felt it in my pocket while on the hill, and now it's not here!"

Kouji flicked the fire warrior's head irritably, "You goggle-head! It could have stumbled out of your pocket and into the lake when you stopped. I can't believe you lost it!"

Takuya just glared at Kouji, anger and frustration at not able to find his D-Tector boiling up. "I gotta go find it!" But before the brunette could take another step, he was restrained by a set of hands.

"No, you can't. You'll get yourself hurt." Kouichi tried to pull him away a little, but Takuya whirled on him, throwing his hands away harshly.

"And what are you gonna do about it!? Are you going to jump in yourself? It's my D-Tector!" Kouichi recoiled instantly, backing away with sudden surprise, as if he'd just been slapped across the face.

Kouji was immediately angered, stepping forward to the gogglehead furiously, "Don't yell at Kouichi! He didn't loose your stupid D-Tector, idiot!"

Takuya growled lowly, "Well I don't see anyone else going to get it! I have to find it!!"

Kouji growled back, quickly grasping Kouichi's hands, "Yeah and I hope you get hurt while out there!!" Then he promptly dragged his brother down the edge of the beach, away from their little group. The digimon looked absolutely terrified, Lopmon looking as if he was torn between wanting to go after the twins or stay with the rest of the group. Junpei just tried to ignore it all as he finished off with the bandages, and Tomoki could only hang his head when Takuya started to pace. This was not good.

Without the twins, the rest of the frontier group was at a loss at what to do about the missing D-Tector. It was clear that they couldn't continue with one of their strongest Warriors down, but as to actually retrieving the item...

"My armor wouldn't be hurt." Junpei commented whilst snacking on some of the candy bars he'd gotten in Steel Town.

"I could ice down the glass." Tomoki looked less cheerful than usual, and all knew it was from the fight beforehand.

"I doubt you'd want to waste your energy on evolving just to get one D-Tector." Bokomon noted, reminding the rest that their energy couldn't keep up with their evolutions any more.

"Then how do we get it out of the fiberglass? I don't know about you guys, but I am not going to get cut up again." Izumi sighed, absently petting Salamon along her head in a soothing rhythm.

"Stupid Kouji should get it." Takuya muttered, but everyone just ignored his steaming anger.

"We should just wait 'till we're together again. I don't like being apart." Patamon whimpered, fluttering over to Tomoki and hiding himself in the boy's hat. The rest of them sighed lightly, agreeing with heavy hearts.

"I'm sure Kouji and Kouichi could think of something." Junpei added in, disappointed in not able to think of any ideas.

"Then... we should just wait until morning." Lopmon decided, and slowly, the group agreed. They nestled into the base of the hill together, yet they couldn't help but feel broken. Takuya especially felt guilty as his anger melted into more rational emotions. Now he was worried that he wouldn't be able to evolve when the rest really needed it. _"Cuts will heal,"_ he told himself as he started to drift, _"I'll get it... in the morning."_

* * *

Kouichi had his knees curled up to meet his chin, his gaze lingering on the waves of fiberglass. Well, they weren't really waves, because they weren't moving, but the longer Kouichi stared, the more it really did seem to spin before him. Kouji was pacing back and forth at his side, muttering under his breath and blowing off steam. Kouichi could tell that Kouji was venting out frustrations - not all of them about Takuya - and so the elder just let him be. Obviously, the younger twin was mad about feeling so helpless during their battle yesterday, but he had refused to show it before. Actually, Kouji was probably just mad in general about this whole new journey.

"The nerve of that idiot! He deserves a good knock in the head, that guy!"

Kouichi sighed to himself, preferring not to answer to his brother's angry shouts at the lake. Eventually, Kouji stopped shouting and was reduced to curling up on the ground in anger, arms crossed and scowling out at the glass.

Kouichi wanted to start up a conversation, just to get Kouji to calm down and talk to him. But all he could think about was how frustrated everyone was, and how they'd be at a definite disadvantage if they couldn't get Takuya's D-Tector.

_"And what are you gonna do about it!? Are you going to jump in yourself?"_ What else could they do? Maybe he _should_ go and get it... after all...

He really couldn't be hurt.

"Kouichi, don't worry about this stupid fight." Kouji spoke up when he finally noticed his brother's hesitant eyes and small frown. "It'll all blow over come morning, okay?"

"Yeah..."

Kouji rubbed his twin's back kindly, stomping down his anger to make way for calmer thoughts. He was supposed to be the one with his emotions under control, and here he was fuming over Takuya and his dumb D-Tector. "Don't worry, Nii-san. We'll think of something tomorrow. For now, let's get some shut-eye."

Kouichi agreed, but he knew that he wouldn't be sleeping. He lay next to his brother, just like he should have been able to his whole life, only he had been denied that privilege. And now, he was just waiting for him to fall asleep. When he finally heard Kouji's deeper breathing and knew he wouldn't wake, the elder twin climbed to his feet with all the silence of the darkness itself and made his way towards the lake.

_"What's the harm? I can't really get hurt."_

Kouichi carefully ran his hands over the very edge of the fiberglass - right where Takuya had stopped - and pulled his palm back in surprise when he felt it sting. A quick look-over showed him no blood (he wasn't expecting any) and the pain faded quickly away along with the traces of any scratches. He took a few deep breaths, closing his eyes to strengthen his resolve. He knew he might be the only hope the group had to find the Fire Spirits without having to evolve or to get hurt.

He swept his feet along the bottom, frowning at the thought that it may not be as easy to find the D-Tector as he had first hoped. There was a lot of tripping and pulling out pieces of wood that went on for a long while. When the sun started to peak slowly in the east and cast off a red hue, Kouichi estimated that he had been out here for a good hour or more. He was about to give up and head back to shore to wait for the sting to ebb when he saw none other than Takuya run up to the edge of the lake in panic.

"Kouichi, what are you doing!?" the brunette looked torn between jumping in after his friend or staying safely at the edge, his face practically going white.

"Just looking around." Kouichi sighed, starting to head back when his foot caught something and he fell.

"Kouichi!" Without another thought the gogglehead was cringing his way through the glassy sea to help the other up, "Are you okay, Kouichi?"

"Y-yeah. I just tripped on... something." The both of them exchanged a brief glance before they turned down and brushed through the pink at their feet. The dark-haired boy grinned as he retrieved a certain plastic-like device, holding it up for show.

Takuya smiled gratefully, "Wow, thanks a ton, Kouichi." He took his D-Tector which then beeped at him brightly before the Fire Warrior pulled the other to the safety of shore.

Kouichi was checking the leader over with a bit of worried guilt, but the brunette was too preoccupied with his Spirits to be feeling any pain. Besides, his D-Tector was acting really weird, and Takuya just couldn't figure out what was wrong. It was beeping oddly, and a headache was forming in the back of the fire warrior's head, somewhat like a brain freeze only he wasn't cold. No, he actually felt _hot._

Kouichi's head was starting to hurt too, and the increasingly loud noise from Takuya's device wasn't helping one bit. Something was out there, pulsing, and Kouichi couldn't remember where he felt this before and couldn't focus on why he was supposed to know because his head was just agonizing him. Soon, the others were waking and gathered around them in worry and when Kouji rounded the hill he ran up to his brother in worry.

"What's happening? Kouichi? What's wrong!?" Kouji's keen eyes noticed the lingering traces of cuts along his twin's exposed hands that were clasped around his ears, but he didn't think about it long when something shiny caught his attention.

Takuya's D-Tector emitted a feint yellow light, but the brightness was coming from the _lake_ where the pink fiberglass was _on fire._ The flames were close, but they weren't hot and they weren't painful to look at. The whole area, every trace of pink cloud-like fluffiness was burning and blazing in a controlled fire that seemed to mesmerize the group of onlookers as if it was a fireworks show. It was dwindling quickly, though, leaving black ashes and a glowing orange core that resonated a calling-like pulse.

Takuya's mouth fell slack, and his lips tried to form words before he could finally speak. "The key..."

"The Fire key has presented itself!" Bokomon blinked in amazement, hearing a trio of awes from the three angels at his side.

"Kouichi was right about it all along." Izumi smiled as the lingering traces of flame finally smothered out and the key floated towards them.

"Yeah, and we didn't even have to fight." Junpei was smiling also and Takuya grinned as he took the key from its place in the air. As soon as he touched the glowing item, a crystal blue liquid started to fill up the ashen crater before them.

"The lake!" Kouichi smiled excitedly, watching as the water slowly filled up the area that was previously pink.

Kouji was the only one without a smile lighting up his face, watching as Takuya pocketed the fire key and noticing that all his cuts had healed. He knew how his brother and Takuya had found the D-Tector, even if the others hadn't figured it out yet - Kouichi had gotten the item himself, explaining the lingering, almost untraceable cuts on his hands. He was the only one who could get the thing out of the glass and not get hurt, but how long had he been up searching?

The question and the sight of slowly-disappearing cuts on his twin's hands made Kouji frown, but he couldn't do anything right then; everyone was happy celebrating.

_**-(to be continued)-**_

_Quanto grazioso_- "how pretty" (google translator)

Ha! I figured out how to place a certain scene without squishing it into this chapter! Thank you, muses!

Ryu: Er... you're welcome? (was eating breakfast at the time)

Hehe, anyway, I can't wait for chapter five. It's a fun one, and based off an Ouran story (already got permission for the chapter) and it's gonna have that extra scene in it... Time to get to work! And thank you all for you're lovely reviews! It really encourages me. (Yay!)


	5. Chapter 5

_**Return**_

Announcing the fifth addition to _Return._ Updates will continue to be irregular, and so announcements will be posted on my profile in the case of how the story is coming along. So, _Return_ **will** finish, I'm just not sure when.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Frontier in any way, shape, or form, nor do I own any Ouran High School Host Club...

Notes: mild pairings, mostly based on cannon and some others. Mostly friendship and brotherly love.

Some of the key ideas in this chapter were stemmed from the Ouran fic "Red Sky at Night" and I have received permission from the author **dreaming0** to use the idea in my chapter. **Dreaming0** was also my beta reader! Much thanks!

_"I... I'm glad I came to this world. Because I met you, Kouichi. We'll be able to see each other when we get back to the human world, right?" Kouji Minamoto episode 46: Digital World Annihilated!? Lucemon's Dark Rule, Japanese sub. To Make The World Go Away, English dub title_

_**-(Chapter 5: The Storm)-**_

After the gogglehead and lonewolf agreed to end their little quarrel, the Fire Leader declared the rest of their day would be spent on the water to catch up with the fun that they had been looking forward to the day before. As soon as the water returned, so did the busy inhabitants of the lake and the working digimon of the Ferry. The realization of a boat ride sent Izumi into ecstatic twirls and she pulled at both Takuya's and Junpei's arms the whole way towards the docks.

Kouji and Kouichi were sensible enough to stock up on lunch before they boarded, packing backpacks full of fresh water and picnic baskets full of hamburgers. And even with Neemon trying to stuff his face beforehand, the food stock was full and would last them a good few days.

The group was very surprised to be heading out onto the lake so soon after they boarded, _and _without a guide. Between the six of them, the knowledge they had about boats and how to drive them was minimal, to say the least. The three angels and Neemon weren't even sure what a steering wheel looked like on a boat, much less did they know how to steer a Ferry. Bokomon just liked to think he knew everything, but even he did not know what he was talking about.

"Well, my dad used to take me out on our boat," Takuya offered, rushing towards the steering wheel. "I don't know much about the engine, but I can steer."

Kouichi started to tug slightly on the sail's ropes, judging how tight it was against the rushing wind, and Kouji checked how choppy the water was. It wasn't too bad, but some of the clouds that lay on the horizon seemed to promise rain later on. Hopefully it wouldn't be enough that they'd have to cancel their ferry trip, because everyone seemed too excited.

"Let's open the sails once we get off the dock," Izumi commanded, heading briskly towards the front of the boat and looking very captain-like. "Takuya, you steer. Kouichi, Kouji, handle those sails!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the three replied, taking to their duties and looking very serious. The rest of the group just looked uneasy, watching the others with half-interest. The group was soon enjoying the view though as they cast off and the wind caught the open sails. Before long they were moving swiftly over the water.

"Wow, look at that!" Junpei pointed out the boat's side, eyes widening. The others stole a glance to the lake, and they found a dozen or more dolphin-like digimon hopping straight out of the waves to smile at them.

"That's Dolphmon!" Bokomon shouted over the wind in his face, the three angel digimon smiled and waved back to the water digimon. The group of humans were all very excited to be out on the water, and looking out at the marine digimon, they were even more enthused about their trip.

"Ah, this is so nice!" Izumi cheered as she threw her hands into the air to stretch. "Hey, Takky! Where's a good place to stop for a bit?"

"What?" Takuya looked up in confusion, "But 'Zumi, we just got on the water!" he protested.

"Hey, don't judge me," she countered, walking up to the steering wheel. "Where's a good place to go swimming?"

"Oh," Takuya perked up, and the others started to search the waters, too.

"Hey, Izumi-chan!" Junpei pointed to a small island, where the water was clear and the waves looked inviting. "How about there? We can swim to shore if we want."

Tomoki started to bounce wildly, rushing from one side of the boat to the other, "Yeah, yeah!! That's a great idea, Junpei!"

"Oh, I don't think I've ever gone swimming before," Patamon perked up, giggling amongst his angel companions.

"The first time on water, we didn't get nearly enough luxury because of those Toucanmon." Takuya remembered.

"Yeah, Izumi. You should probably think about changing now." Kouji smirked as Izumi turned a little pink.

"Just none of you perverts try and peek!" She shouted heatedly, before going below deck. Kouichi couldn't for the life of him understand why everyone was laughing about that.

"It's what happened last time," Kouji assured his brother, and Kouichi turned somewhat red with that comment.

"Do I want to know what happened?"

"We got tricked by some Toucanmon working for Ranamon, believing that they were good," Bokomon said helpfully. "They ended up stealing all of our D-Tectors except Izumi's, who was changing at the time."

Kouichi gave Takuya and Junpei very odd looks at their uneasy sweat-drops, but shrugged it off when Salamon called their attention to the island, which was coming close very fast.

Kouji paled a bit, watching the rushing waves over the side of the ferry. "Takuya... are you steering?"

"Err..." The brunette raced to the wheel as Kouji pulled his brother towards the sails to try and bring them down. The wind was harsh, and their only movement was from air-power.

"How are we going to slow down?" Tomoki wondered hesitantly as the boat headed strait for the inland rocks.

"I don't know." Junpei replied uneasily, a sudden chill running down his back. "But I don't think sailing is a very good idea anymore."

"Why's that?" Kouji turned to him sharply, narrowing his eyes in a worried manner that looked uncannily like a death glare.

"The air just seems... cold," Junpei muttered, looking into the darkening sky. "Those clouds look stormy."

"We've got to warn Izumi!" Takuya abandoned the wheel in his haste, rushing below deck with Junpei and the Digimon on his heels.

Kouji growled as he looked to the top of the still-open sails, which would not budge even under his and his brother's combined effort.

"Kouichi, take the wheel and try to steer away from the island. I've got to get those sails down." Kouichi looked at his twin hesitantly before he rushed off to do what his brother told him, Kouji grabbing little Tomoki's hand as he went.

"Tomoki, you're smaller so you can help me get the sails down manually." Kouji sounded like he was in serious-battle mode, and Tomoki nodded obediently. Kouji had to give the guy some credit, as his bravery was apparent.

"Ah, K-Kouji!" Kouichi called, and the younger brother tore his attention from Tomoki scaling up the rope ladder to watch Kouichi fight with the steering wheel as beads of sweat started to roll down his chin. The younger twin was about to come over at his brother's call when there was a great and sudden lurch that tossed the boat from one side to the other. Kouji was about to call out to his elder twin when he was cut off by a young-sounding yell and a crash into the water.

"Tomoki!!" The twins chorused in fright, Kouichi instantly needing to return his attention to the uncontrollable wheel as the winds got harsher.

Kouji didn't waste any time to pluck up an abandoned life ring and throw it over the side to where Tomoki was struggling with the rough waves. As if sensing the younger twin's placement, the boat tipped forcefully over and the black-haired boy fell over the side and into the water.

"KOUJI!" Kouichi's hands slipped off the wheel in his surprise and anguish, the ferry crashing against the rocks and turning away from where his friend and brother had fallen. The wheel spun wildly as the boat was tossed from wave to wave in a game of catch, the elder twin desperately groping for his D-Tector...

_"Your spirit... will fade away..."_

"What's happening!?" Takuya shouted as he emerged onto the deck with the others to find a terrified Kouichi laying flat on the rocking deck.

"Kouji, Tomoki, the-they fell! We have to go back!" Kouichi cried in panic, the others looking horrified.

"The boat is taking on water." Izumi yelled over the wind while Junpei maneuvered his way over to help the black-haired boy up. Takuya looked about ready to take out his D-Tector when the boat was suddenly lifted into the air by a huge wave, crashing it down into the rocks. The group screamed as they were violently tossed into the unforgiving sea below them, much too panic-stricken to try to think about spirit evolving. They hit the water and went under, struggling to resurface, gasping for breath as they broke out of the strangling water.

Junpei pulled up a limp Kouichi with him, worry growing in the pit of his stomach. The younger boy didn't seem to be moving or coughing up water or anything. The brunette shook his friend, trying to be gentle, "Kouichi? Are you okay? Kou?"

The eldest boy grabbed at a firm plank of wood and dragged the downed warrior of darkness onto it. He then swam towards the digimon to pluck them from the water and lay them on the wood also.

"Is it nappy time for Kouichi?" Neemon wondered as Bokomon checked the elder twin.

"Oh dear, I hope he's okay," the white digimon replied sadly.

"Izumi! Takky! Can you hear me?!" Junpei called out over the waves.

"We're here." Takuya swam over from Junpei's side, having collected some random bags, with Izumi shivering behind him. The pair's eyes widened when they found their friends.

"What happened to Kouichi?" Izumi asked, but Junpei didn't have an answer.

"Ichi's got a cut," Salamon whimpered, and the others noticed that the elder twin really was hurt - he was bleeding from a gash on his forehead, above his left eye. Lopmon looked especially frightened by this, trying to wipe some of the trickling blood away from the boy's unnaturally tranquil face.

"We'll take care of him when we get to the island," Takuya assured, determinedly pushing towards the land with the wood in his hands. Junpei started to kick from behind and Izumi helped Takuya pull the make-shift raft to the sandy shore, dragging their friend up the beach with them. The digimon even started to help once they could get their footing, pushing the raft far from the lapping waves. The darkening clouds weren't dumping any rain upon them at the moment, which they were mildly thankful for, finally settling under the large digital trees of the island.

"Takuya, give me that bag." Izumi swiped out a few soaked towels, gently applying it over the unconscious boy's wound. "Well... at least he's still breathing." Izumi amended, not sure about what else to say.

The others didn't reply, and for awhile, they lay in the silence of the rushing water before Takuya finally stood up. He ran to the edge of the water, cupping his hands around his mouth.

"KOUJI! TOMOKI!" He yelled to the sea, but he got no reply.

"I hope they're okay," Izumi mumbled quietly and Junpei nodded.

"They can always spirit evolve," Salamon reminded.

Bokomon sighed a little though, "Salamon, it isn't as easy as that anymore. I don't doubt that they will Spirit Evolve if their lives really depended on it, but they have to be careful now."

The angles and Neemon all sighed sadly at the news, the air turning grim when it started to rain. Takuya rushed under cover, shivering while he knelt to Kouichi's side.

"Don't worry, buddy. We'll get your brother back, and Tomoki, too. So don't worry about that, just rest up." He whispered to his companion, shifting hair out of his eyes, his softness making the other's hearts lighten up.

"Takuya?" Izumi wondered hesitantly, and he looked at her seriously. "Do you really think Kouichi is going to be okay?"

He smiled at her reassuringly, which was just the thing she was looking for and she relaxed. "Sure he will be. Not even 'just a spirit' can be invulnerable all the time. He only needs some recuperation time. Probably hit his head back there." Junpei was quick to agree, the three conscious humans watching as Lopmon then made his way towards their fallen companion, wrapping his thick ears around the boy's exposed neck.

"He'll be warmer this way," he said in explanation and the others smiled and huddled together to savor body heat, keeping Kouichi safely in the middle. Exhausted, the group slowly fell into a troubled slumber, hoping for a better day tomorrow.

* * *

_"I'm really glad I came to this world, you know? Otherwise I might not have met you. Now we'll be able to see each other all the time. I mean, when we're back to the human world and all."_

_His brother's concerned voice echoed all around him, igniting a deep guilt and a sense of self-loathing within him. He had wanted to tell Kouji the truth so badly, but he'd been a coward. The truth hurt too much, and he was afraid of hurting his brother any more than he had already done. Why couldn't he be more open, why couldn't they be more like brothers!?_

_Kouichi's anguish ignited a flame beneath his feet, starting to lick up his around legs, up his body, up towards his face. He lifted his hands in an attempt to protect himself somehow, closing his eyes against the heat..._

_And when he peeked out, the flames were suddenly gone._

_There was this giant, looming castle situated in front of him now, with intimidating, tall, arched doors. But the scariest part of all was the one gargoyle-like statue glaring straight at him with three ruby eyes. The statue was carved to look exactly like Velgmon._

_Petrified by fear, Kouichi could not move an inch as he watched the statue start to animate. It's stone-carved wings broke from their hold and it was able to lift itself from the building and into the chilling air. It let out a roar and came towards him. He could feel the rushing air push him backwards and he fell, watching as those familiarly cruel eyes came closer and closer until --_

"AAAHH!" Kouichi jumped and flailed when he woke up from his sleep, sweating immensely and aching all over. Someone was there with him, someone who was trying to calm him down, calling out to him.

"Shh, Kouichi. Calm down, it's all right." He turned to the soothing voice, finding Izumi smiling calmly at him while he regrouped. His head spun, his stomach ached and he felt like he was in a sauna.

"I-Izumi... Wh-Where are we? Where are the others?" he spoke dryly as the girl helped him lean up against a palm tree and offered him some lukewarm water.

"We're on an island right now, Kouichi." She gently brushed his bangs out of his eyes so he could see better. "Junpei and Takuya went with the digimon to gather food and look for Tomoki and Kouji, okay?"

Kouichi guiltily realized he had no idea what was going on right now... the last thing he remembered was the realization of Kouji being thrown off the boat and--

"Kouji! H-He went over into the water! And I didn't see him evolve! What happened?!" Kouichi stood up in shock, but the dizziness overcame his adrenaline rush and he had to sit back down. "Th-The last thing I remember..."

"Shh," Izumi ran her hand over his arm comfortingly, "Don't worry about all that right now. You hit your head, so you were out cold when we ended up here."

Kouichi blearily rolled his head to take a better look at exactly where he was, noticing the leaves from the palm tree overhead and the wet sand out in front of him. There were still remains of the Ferry's tattered frame sticking up out of the water some meters into the water, which made him worry.

"W...wouldn't Kouji have landed on this shore with us?" he asked his friend, his blue eyes deep and pleading.

"I don't know, Kouichi-kun," Izumi answered truthfully, but quickly amended when Kouichi looked petrified and turned pale, "The others haven't been out long." Something in the bushes russtled, Izumi pausing to look that way, finding nothing. "They'll be fine, don't worry." She said once more.

"But I have a feeling _you _won't be as fine when I'm through with you!" Izumi and Kouichi felt chills run down their backs from the sinister voice that had come out from the bushes behind them, freezing them in place. "Now, get off my island!"

The pair's eyes widened as the frightening figure of a white-hooded cobra danced out of the shrubs, its tongue tasting the air. They barely had time to register its purple markings when Izumi snatched Kouichi out of the way; the both of them just missing a nose-dive. Sand sputtered up from the serpent's fall, blinding the pair of humans until it was too late and they were facing the beady red eyes of the crazed digimon.

"I am Sandiramon, and you trespassers with die here!"

Confused and enraged, Izumi started to reach for her D-Tector, only to be bodily shoved out of the way from a Venom Axe attack by Kouichi, who landed over her.

"Izumi, we can't evolve!" he whispered desperately, pulling her to her feet as Sandiramon tasted the air, looking for them.

"What are you talking about!?" Izumi reprimanded, pulling her hand out of his hold, but he took it once again and started to run out of the way of another rush. Sandiramon slid into the water, using it as cover.

"You can't evolve! You'll get hurt!" Kouichi pleaded, holding onto Izumi desperately with panic rising in his voice. The blond recognized the fear lacing her friend's voice and felt saddened that his courage could be depleted so easily. Whatever happened to the Kouichi who stood up against Cherubimon and protected her and everyone else from certain death when fighting Lucemon?

"Kouichi, you shouldn't be so scared of all that. If we don't evolve, there's no way we can survive anyway," she said calmly and the boy's eyes seemed to settle a little. "I know what Lowemon told you; we all know," she continued, "but don't let your fear overtake you. You're strong, Kouichi-kun."

There was silence between them for a while, with Izumi facing her friend and watching him come to terms with it all. He seemed to strengthen his resolve, just in time for what Izumi could not have seen coming next.

The water that sprayed upwards behind Izumi looked almost tranquil if not for the cause which came hissing forth from the liquid. It was all too sudden, and even though Kouichi wanted to rush forward to get Izumi out of the way, he couldn't move. Sandiramon's eyes looked too much like Velgmon's, and he was frozen. Izumi was right... he was a coward... he couldn't--

Izumi turned so quickly and brought out her D-Tector so fast that Kouichi didn't know what happened. It was like time was slowing down, the water falling in slow motion in front of the girl and the serpent digimon frozen in preparation for a lunge. It was then that Izumi activated a familiar-shaped digicode around her hand and scanned it through her d-tector as quick as the wind itself.

"Execute! Fusion Evolution!"

Izumi just seemed to know that this was her time. This was her time to prove her courage, and show her friend what kind of strength could be gathered from the sheer determination of protecting someone. Kouichi had shown her that strength before, and now it was time to return the favor.

"JetSilphymon!" Her new attire reminded her of a kind of mix of her two other forms' clothing, thrown in with a jet plane. There were jet packs on her back and her white purple-lined boots, and she had a kind of helmet shaped into an airplane over her head. Her eye-wear from Kazemon had been improved into a blue seal over her eyes and a white mask came over her mouth like Zephyrmon. The most prominent change about JetSilphymon was that she carried a weapon in the form of a giant, sharp-looking pinwheel.

Kouichi could sense a smirk under Izumi's face mask, and her power boost made her feel a radiating confidence. She had power, she had the ability to protect, she had the power of Fusion.

"Jet Winter!" Using the power packs on her back that were her higher quality wings, she charged forward and hit Sandiramon with the force of a hundred hurricane winds, sending him falling backwards into the water and desperately trying and not drown. He slithered back out onto the sand speedily, hurrying towards the weaker one, the non-dangerous one, but he was suddenly faced with the giant head of the pinwheel in front of his path.

"Oh no you don't, big boy." JetSilphymon landed down on Sandiramon's hooded head so that she could safely pull her pinwheel from the ground.

"You don't know who you face," Sandiramon spat out sand as he continued, "I am the Guardian of the Dawn Forest! You are merely trespassers! You shouldn't be able to defeat me!"

"You should have thought about that before you decided to sneak up on me and my friend," Izumi growled, starting to spin her pinwheel above her head to create a whirlwind. She lifted into the air a good three stories high before she sent the force downward, right on top of Sandiramon. The hurricane was too strong and Sandiramon was trapped between the gale and the buffeting sand, and soon, he was nothing more than data and a stray egg.

"Sorry, bubby," JetSilphymon sneered, "but you aren't going to bother us ever again! Fractal Code: Digitize!"

There was something at the end of Sandiramon's stream of code, something pearlescent and shimmering that radiated a familiar pulse. When the data disappeared into Izumi's D-Tector, she got a hold of the item, smiling under her mask. The pulse was the same as those from the previous keys; it must have been that Sandiramon held the Water key.

Code enveloped the warrior of wind, leaving Izumi behind with the key in hand, standing in front of her self-created sand hole. Kouichi quickly came to her side, and the girl noticed that he avoided looking straight at the key as he addressed her.

"Thanks so much, Izumi. You were great. And as a bonus, you even got the Water key." Kouichi smiled at his friend and she grinned back, pocketing the item much to the elder twin's relief.

"Yeah, but I only did so well thanks to you."

"Huh?"

Izumi just smiled and turned towards the forest part of the island. "Oh, never mind. Let's catch up with the others now, okay?"

Kouichi nodded and the two walked down the sandy beach together, awaiting whatever lay ahead.

_**-(to be continued)-**_

I am disappointed that the beginning part of this chapter took so much work out of me, and I practically had to force most of that stuff out, but I definitely like how I incorporated so much stuff in the Izumi-action. There are lots of good things going on in there (even if it seemed sort of rushed). Plus, I got to put in some hints to future chapters in here.

Hey, lookie! I got to use more Kouichi-Izumi bonding scenes! I don't know why, but I'm kinda liking my own version of this pairing. (I don't really care for the Kouichi-Izumi coupling, but I seem to be changing my own mind about how I look at it!) But what is a bad set-back is that the scene that I said my muses fixed up for me (see last chapter's A/N at the bottom) has come back to haunt me. I think it would be better to squeeze it into the next chapter... or later on somehow... (sigh)

Ryu: er... sorry? It was the freeze-dry strawberries! They led me into a false sense of security!!

Evide: (looks at him) Right. Next chapter, hopefully I get to put in some Tomoki-Kouji things and then the big Forest Scene. Thanks for waiting all this time, minna! I hope you all are liking the way this story is coming!


	6. Chapter 6

_**Return**_

Now into the _sixth_ chapter of _Return. _Arigato for all the encouragement I've been getting. It's _very _appreciated, as is all comments. Minna-san, you're words always encourage me to do better!

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Frontier or any of it's characters in any way, shape, or form.

Notes: Here are the pairings I am going to use in this story: Koukou (brotherly love), Junichi (friendship), Takoukou (friendship), Kouizumi, Takumi and Junzumi. Don't be afraid if I've mentioned a pair that you are against, because I probably won't go so far to make _Return_ some kind of romance story. Nothing will even get as far as kissing, just suggestions that you can take whatever way you'd like to take them.

And there is some action in part 2. Be forewarned that I am terrible at action!

_"I don't want revenge anymore. I'm done hiding in the dark. I'd rather die than betray my brother!" --Kouichi Kimura, episode 33; Ne'er the Twins Shall Meet, English dub._

_**-(Chapter 6: The Forest of Dawn, Part 1: The Light)-**_

Tomoki had felt proud when he was 'picked' to help Kouji with the Ferry's sails. He had not said anything to the others, but he had been afraid of being a burden, not really knowing anything about boats or the water. He was happy he could at least do this one thing, even if it meant climbing a precarious rope latter. With the wind and the waves... and the height... and the moving...

In his daze, somehow the rope had come out of his hold, and he fell through the air. Chills ran up his spine and he let out a shriek before he hit the water. The freezing temperature was expected, and Tomoki felt the cold _fueling_ him as he swam to the surface, broke through the waves and gasped for breath. He could hear the crunching of wood hitting stone and he knew that the Ferry would not last much longer.

The site of a floating white ring was very welcome and Tomoki started to kick toward it when he heard a splash nearby. Confused, the brown-eyed boy grabbed hold of the life ring and started to head toward where the water was making ripples from whatever had fallen in.

"Kouji!" Tomoki gasped as the younger twin came up to the surface and started to cough up water. The smaller boy helped Kouji drape over the flotation ring so as to get air back into his lungs.

Once Kouji was done with his coughing fest he wiped water from his eyes to get a good look at how Tomoki was doing. "You okay?"

The brunette was careful to not drink a face-full of water when he tried to answer, "Y-yeah, I'm fine," but Kouji pulled him to the life ring for safety anyways. The two of them looked together at the distancing ferry, feeling their hearts sink at the worsening condition of the withering boat.

"C'mon," Kouji prompted, starting to turn toward the closest shore of the island, which happened to be a while away from the rocky area that their friends most likely ended up on.

"B-but Kouji," Tomoki was hesitant to start swimming, but did so to keep up, "what about the others? They--"

"They're fine. Right now, we need to get out of the water," Kouji grunted, pulling his smaller friend along. Tomoki was not quelled by this, nor the look on his elder companion's face, worry churning inside of him.

The rain started to pour when they were almost half-way toward the shore and the trek took a lot longer than it had looked. But finally, the pair dragged themselves onto shore, using the last of their energy to pull underneath the safety of a palm tree. Kouji was shivering when they were finally able to relax, and the younger boy was afraid that his friend was getting a cold.

"Kouji?" Tomoki questioned hesitantly when the blue-eyed boy started coughing.

"I...I'm fine," he said defiantly, but he weakly curled up on himself and held his head when the shivering became worse.

Tomoki did not even ask if Kouji wanted something because he knew the elder boy would tell him he was all right, if only to ease his worries. So Tomoki did not say a word as he stood up shakily and headed toward the bushes. When he found a relatively dry leafy shrubber, he hacked the plant away and returned to his companion to lay it over him.

Kouji sighed in defeat, not meeting eye-contact with his smaller friend. His weakness was almost an embarrassment, but this was the Digital World and their lives were on the line, so he could not be stubborn if he wanted to live. The only thing that bothered him was that his pain did not seem like it was his own. It felt like... an outside source was putting pressure on his head and making him cold. The thought made him desperately long to see Kouichi, and he wondered how his brother was doing...

Tomoki was surprised when Kouji slipped off to sleep, but he felt exhaustion pulling at his own eyes soon after. Defeated, the brunette rested his sore body next to Kouji's and let the promise of dreams take him away.

Tomoki shifted awake, blinking open his eyes and expecting to find Kouji next to him. Once the brunette finally realized he seemed to be alone, he pulled himself up and checked around. Luckily, he found the younger twin sitting just away from the slight shadow of the cover of trees, watching the sunset forlornly.

Tomoki felt somewhat obliged to try and talk to Kouji, especially while they were the only two around. Besides, this could be a great way to try and get to know his companion a little better. Feeling proud, Tomoki came up to his friend, trying not to startle him. "Hey, Kouji."

The bandanna-clad boy turned slightly, not much emotion showing in his expression, "How do you feel?"

"Oh, I'm just fine. Are you okay?"

"Fine." Tomoki had expected that, but it had been a worthy shot.

"What are you doing?" he asked, trying to pull out a conversation, although it sounded to him like Kouji felt he was just a bother.

"Just watching the sunrise," he sighed, crossing his arms as he looked down the beach. There was a silence between the teammates, as Tomoki tried to think of something to say, when Kouji actually beat him to it. "Tomoki... do you think Kouichi is okay?"

The younger boy expected Kouji to bring up his brother sooner or later, but he just hadn't thought of any response. The last time they saw their friends, they had been on a very rocky course toward the other shore, which was a good ways away from where they were now. Tomoki truly didn't know what to say, but he supposed that optimism wouldn't hurt much.

"I think so. I think they would all make sure everyone was safe," he finally answered in confidence. "And even if it took their energy away, I'm sure that none of them would hesitate to evolve to save their lives." Kouji didn't answer, and Tomoki felt his stomach drop. Was he wrong to assume so easily? "Don't you think so, Kouji?"

The elder was slow to answer, taking a breath, "...I know Takuya wouldn't hesitate to save anyone. And I don't care about my energy, as long as everyone is safe, too." Tomoki could tell that Kouji was thinking about Kouichi when he had said that. "But that still doesn't keep me from worrying about Kouichi. I can't let anything happen to him."

Tomoki quickly stood up, "Then what are we waiting here for? Let's go find him."

Kouji immediately stood along with his friend, still gazing into the sunrise. There was something there, in the distance, he could tell. Something shining and light and warm and... _pulsing?_ _"Just like... when Kouichi says he doesn't feel well. Just like those keys..."_

Tomoki turned back when he noticed that his companion wasn't following his lead, only staring out into the ocean toward the sun in some sort of trance. He was about to call out when something caught his eye - something was moving toward Kouji, looking like a sort of glowing ember, kind of like Takuya's Fire key.

"The key!" Tomoki suddenly realized as Kouji extended his hand out to the item and plucked it from the air. The brunette quickly joined in examining the item, then smiling as the light boy pocketed it.

"Kouichi'll be happy about that," Tomoki commented and Kouji nodded.

* * *

_"But you were strong and turned away from the darkness," --Ophanimon, Episode 34; Operation: Free Ophanimon!, English dub._

_**-(Chapter 6: The Forest of Dawn, Part 2: The Darkness)-**_

"I knew we shouldn't have left them alone!" Takuya grumbled as he and Junpei raced back over the hot sand to where they had come from, their arms void of the food that they had been sent out to collect. They could still see some the boat's wooden skeleton out way along the way, but they had no idea of the events that had conspired there.

"They need our protection!" Junpei agreed, trying to keep up with his friend's very, very fast pace and doing well. As the eldest of the group, the Warrior of Thunder always felt this overpowering sense of instinctual protection over his friends, and Izumi was always on the top of his list. He hadn't stopped thinking about them since they left, and he'd been berating himself ever since he heard the thunder-pounding crashes down the way.

"Poor Kouichi,"

"Poor Izumi," Lopmon and Salamon chimed in, both holding onto little bags of fruit that they had saved smartly.

"Oh don't worry," Bokomon had a hard time keeping up with his longer-legged companions, but did so nonetheless, "I'm positive they can hold their own!" His confidant voice was true and strong, but it did no help in quelling Takuya and Junpei's fast-fluttering hearts. The team was already split with Kouji and Tomoki gone somewhere in the water; they couldn't handle two more downed teammates.

"Go, go, go, go!" The two brunettes rolled their eyes at Neemon's giddy cheer, almost envying the digimon's obliviousness to everything around him. The reason they were running in the first place was because of a loud, very frightening crash that sent the little yellow digimon toppling head-over-heels from the tree he'd climbed up.

"Hey! Hurry, look! I see 'em!" Patamon called out, spotting two wobbly figures in the distance, hands raised in greeting.

"Oh man, they're okay!" Takuya panted, racing forward with a burst of energy. Already tuckered out, the rest followed slowly, but still in good spirits.

Izumi was the first to catch up to him, smile as bright as the sun, "Hey Takki. Long time no see! So whatever happened to our breakfast, eh?"

The brunette rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, "Err... well... That um..."

"Let me guess," Kouichi quipped, "you dropped it when you came running? Honestly, you have no faith in us!"

Takuya smirked and gave the worn-looking boy a pat on the back. "Hey, you can't blame me! You were out cold the last time we saw you. How are you feeling, buddy?"

"Fine."

"Good to hear," Junpei said, smiling brightly at Izumi and him. He was about to ask them more when Izumi cut him off.

"Now, why don't we go look for Kouji and Tomoki?" Izumi inquired cheerfully.

"No need to look for them. Here they come!" Patamon spotted easily, earning happy gasps from the rest of the group. Sure enough, walking towards them from the opposite side of the beach were their missing teammates, the four starting to gallop towards the duo in relief.

"Takuya-nii!" Tomoki called, making the warrior of fire grin at the nick-name.

"Hey there, little buddy! I'm glad you're okay!" Takuya caught up to the smaller boy, ruffling his hair as Tomoki flung his arms around Takuya's middle.

"We were worried about you two," Izumi added in a huff, but her smile misplaced her angry voice and everyone could tell she was truly happy, as they all were at finally being reunited.

"Well _we _weren't all that relieved when the boat sunk." Kouji muttered, standing next to Kouichi naturally.

The elder twin smiled at him, and Kouji noticed new kind of strength in his brother's eyes.

"Hey, water isn't a problem for us." said Kouichi, feeling his twin's gaze and happy with the familiar feeling of being watched by him.

"Yeah, water isn't," Takuya started, "But this island is. We're kinda stuck here without a boat off this stupid place."

"Yeah, and I don't really trust the digimon here, either," Izumi added with a frown, making Tomoki and Kouji turn to her.

"What do you mean, 'Zumi?" Tomoki wondered aloud.

"There was a really big snake digimon, Sandiramon, that attacked us a little bit ago," she answered, waving off everyone's sudden worry and concerned looks. "But don't worry. We beat him easy."

"You mean _you _did," Kouichi answered. "Izumi fusion evolved to JetSilphymon and even got the Water key."

Izumi flushed delightedly from the praise and from the light embarrassment of being the center of attention with congratulations. "Yeah. Now all we need is, what? The keys of wood, earth, thunder, darkness, light, ice and wind."

Takuya counted on his fingers, "That's seven to go, not including the fusion evolutions."

"Actually, six." Kouji spoke up, bringing out the still-flashing little piece of crystal that was the key of Light. Kouichi flinched at the glare, but the pounding in his head didn't pick up and he didn't feel faint at all. It seemed once they had the keys, he was fine, and the pounding call of the elements died down when they were found.

"That's great, Kouji." He smiled, now in awe of the refracted little rainbows that spilled over into the sand to light the rocks up. Takuya pulled out the mirror piece of the Steel key, and his own little flaming ember that was the Fire key and held them close to Kouji's prize.

"That's weird," Junpei finally said. "They don't really look like keys at all, do they? I just noticed."

"Maybe it's figurative," Tomoki piped, the easiest to pick up on that kind of thing. "They don't really have to fit into locks or anything. They just have the power to unlock things."

"And maybe more," Bokomon mumbled slightly, gaping unbecomingly at the sight of the powerful and mysterious keys of the Digital Gate.

"So we need to go find the rest!" Patamon jumped happily, starting to fly up and around in sheer excitement.

"But," Salamon frowned, "the problem still arises; we can't seem to get off this island."

"We could always make a boat," Junpei offered, his face brightening, "I can make the blueprints in the sand!"

"Not this again," Bokomon palmed his forehead, while Neemon scratched his head.

Patamon glanced at the trees, "Maybe we should go in the forest."

The two other angels followed their friend's example and stared off into the shrubbery, hypnotized. Takuya watched them, scratched his head and then glanced at Kouichi.

"So, buddy, what do you think?"

Kouichi looked at him, then at Kouji, and then at the angels and finally towards the forest. He could see why the Digimon were so entranced, because to him, it looked like there wasn't anything dark in the forest. He could see endless amounts of brown and green and even some pink light shining through as if from a sunrise. The absence of shadow (but not completely) left him feeling a little dizzy, and the ground beneath his feet seemed to sway a little.

Kouji's hand on his shoulder roused him and he spoke quietly, "There is definitely something in that forest."

"Like what?" Tomoki asked with curiosity, looking at the elder twin with a sort of fascination.

"I'm not really sure. I can't tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing, either," Kouichi said, watching the angel Digimon as they finally pulled their heads out of the clouds and nodded at him.

"It's nice and bright!" Salamon piped, making some of the chosen turn to her and then to the woods.

"Okay, then. I guess it's through the woods we go," Junpei chuckled.

Takuya gave him a look, then started to lead the group towards the forest. "This time, let's just make sure to stick together."

They had been walking for maybe a few hours, the light still as bright as it was when they'd been on the edges of the forest, when in actuality they were deeply engrossed in the wooded area. It seemed a little unnatural, but the off-balance didn't worry them, because if Kouichi wasn't feeling dizzy or sick, they should be fine. And really, the aforementioned boy seemed to be doing the best out of the worn group, not hindered by the physical exertion of endless hiking and not seeming bothered by the lessened shadows.

"This place is calm. And quiet." Kouichi mentioned after a little while, now in the front and leading the group towards where he sensed the heart of the forest.

Kouji nodded, having noticed the same thing, and when the other's listened they definitely couldn't hear anything other than the crunching of their feet on the ground.

"Now wait a minute," Bokomon pouted from his spot on Junpei's shoulder, "I know I can hear something."

Neemon's ears twitched from his place on Takuya's shoulder, "Really?"

"Yes, you nincompoop! Listen closer!"

"To what?"

Takuya sighed in exasperation and shushed them before Bokomon could retort, trying to focus.

"I think he's right," Izumi finally said, cupping her ears. "There's something making some weird noise out there."

The group paused and took a moment to strain their ears, trying to find out exactly _what_ and _where_ the noise was. The sound penetrated the air in a way that they didn't _hear_ the high-pitched screeching, but rather felt it resonate from inside their heads. It was dizzying, and the harsh cacophony of scratching metal that accompanied the sound made them on-edge.

"Where is it coming from?" Takuya muttered nervously, making his team back up in a protected little circle, the digimon huddled in the middle.

"If its anything like Sandiramon, we'll have to spirit evolve," Kouichi said fearlessly, making Kouji turn to him. The younger twin couldn't _help _but think about what Lowemon had said to his brother every single time the idea of spirit evolving came up. To everyone, spirit evolving had been such a protection, such a great and prideful thing, which gave them power. Now the very thought made them cringe, and uneasy. Turning into a digimon was supposed to be a _good _thing, not a fearful experience. But Kouichi could...

Kouji pushed his worrying to the back of his mind, trying to focus, "We need a strategy."

"Uh, right," Takuya muttered, glancing around, "Izumi, you shouldn't evolve, since you just fought. We'll take care of this."

The girl looked a little upset, maybe even disappointed at not getting to use her fusion evolution again, but then she realized that she needed the break. She had been the one lagging behind, and it was probably because of her sapped strength. So she nodded in understanding.

"But that means that Tomoki, Kouji and Kouichi should fight, since they haven't evolved," Izumi reasoned. The girl stared intently into the trees after she spoke, noticing something grey-brown moving through them

"Only if we need to," Kouji reminded, shifting when he spotted the moving masses in the distance, alerting Kouichi to their presence.

"Sandiramon's data, Sandiramon's data, Sandiramon's data, Sandiramon's data..."

The repetitive mantra made the group alert, all watching the advancing bug-looking digimon with nervousness.

"Sandiramon's data! Attack, Scorpion Storm!"

"Oh dear, Scorpiomon!" Bokomon shouted in fear.

"I think that means we need to evolve!" Tomoki gasped as bullets of sand came flying at them.

"Right," the twins chorused, and the three pulled out their D-Tectors.

"Execute: Spirit/Fusion evolution!"

The rest of the group came close together, easily protected by the sand storm by Lowemon's shield. Kumamon set up his gun on his shoulder, waiting for the Scorpion digimon to come into range, while Beowulfmon covered him and the Warrior of Darkness.

"Alright, then, I guess it's time for a little Blizzard Blaster!" The icy shots froze the front line of what could be identified now as metal scorpion digimon, but there was a huge army of them, stampeding forward with no regard to their frozen companions. They continued to advance through the woods, prompting the children to make a mad dash the opposite way, pulling along their digital companions as they retreated.

Beowulfmon looked scathingly at the trees hindering his vision and attacks, most of his Cleansing Light bullets not even reaching the group of crazed Digimon and instead bursting against bark ineffectively. Kumamon had the most success at holding off the bugs, while Lowemon's attacks seemed weakened while in the forest. None of their long-range attacks could get past the woods easily, and soon they had their hands full with just trying to prevent Scorpiomon getting past them.

"Slide evolution! Korikakumon! Frozen Arrowheads!" the warrior of ice's long, tentacle-like braids prevented the Scorpiomon's movement, holding them in place while Kouichi took care of them with a quick shadow lance. But after that, a dozen more took their deleted teammate's place, easily overpowering the trio.

"We can't hold them all off forever!" Korikakumon said, trying to fend off a few Digimon with his axes.

"Well we can't let them catch up to the others," Beowulfmon spat back, smashing more opponents with his BeoSabre.

Lowemon was busy looking at Korukakumon and watching his Avalanche Axes attack, an idea squirming into his head. "Tomoki. Use your axes, cut down the trees. We'll be able to attack better that way!"

"Uh, yeah. Good idea. Avalanche Axes!" The warriors of light and darkness moved out of the way when the trees came tumbling down, trapping some of their opponents helpfully. Then, once the way was clear, the brothers glanced at eachother and nodded.

"Cleansing Light/Shadow Meteor!" Their harmonious, yet contradicting powers swirled together and gathered strength before crashing into an attacking group of Scorpiomon.

"Nice shot!" Tomoki cheered, momentarily focusing on Lowemon and Beowulfmon in their glory. While they were caught up in their victory, three strong Scorpiomon lunged at the warriors.

"Tail Blade!" They managed to hit the warriors with their tails, throwing them back from the blow. They quickly recovered however, and gave the depleting number of Scorpiomon their full attention, and for a little while everything seemed to be going their way.

Tomoki was the first to show signs of discomfort, often tripping and stumbling until he finally just crashed to his knees and reverted unwillingly back to his human form, dazed and weak. The twins worriedly covered him, hoping to be able to last the rest of the fight, when Kouji's attacks started to miss his targets unnaturally. He soon joined Tomoki on the ground, human and dazed, worried about his brother.

"Kouichi, please be careful!"

"That tail blade attack knocked the strength out of us," Tomoki said dishearteningly.

Lowemon watched his friends and nodded, doing his very best at covering them and preventing the Scorpiomon from following the others.

"Hey, look! They're retreating!" Tomoki noticed, the fact making the older two a bit nervous. Their enemy was almost ready to defeat them, why back away now?

"Kouji, I don't think this is safe. Take Tomoki and get out of here." The now-beast-formed JagerLowemon mumbled under his breath, his body braced in front of the two.

"What? Kouichi, what about you?" The younger twin grew angry at Kouichi for not thinking about himself in this situation. What if, right after they fled, Kouichi turned back into a human and couldn't defend himself?

JagerLowemon read his worries and looked him in the eyes, a gentle expression over his lion-like face, "Don't worry so much, Kouji. I'll be fine, I promise. I'm not afraid."

They held gazes a little longer, but then Tomoki tugged at Kouji's arm and urged them to retreat back to the others. If something really was going on, and there was an attack waiting for them, the humans would just be in the way. Kouji hated that he couldn't fight and couldn't help and that he just was _unable _to protect his friends and his brother, so he reluctantly left his twin to face the mysterious silence alone, promising to himself that Kouichi would be alright, no matter what happened.

JagerLowemon watched their retreating backs with a deep feeling of sadness boiling up at the bottom of his heart. He just wished he could be normal and that no one had to worry over him like this, but he also felt a little empowered. He had the ability to fight, and he was the only one right now with that ability. He had to protect the others, his friends, his brother.

"Tail Blade!!" It was too late to realize that his musings had left an opening, and that the cut down trees just exposed him more than the easily camouflaged Scorpiomon. They raced at him and got in a cut or two, but the lion digimon just shook it off like he would a bee sting and then lunged. His chasing was like a game of cat-and-mouse, with the Scorpiomon easily agile enough to dart away and around JagerLowemon, back into the trees. Kouichi couldn't move too much away from his little 'area' lest the Scorpiomon get passed him and chase his friends. But after a long time of them running circles around him and not even trying to get passed him while they threw blows at him, it occurred that they weren't interested in the others.

"Sandiramon's data? Data? Data data data..." When they started chanting, Kouichi worried. Sandiramon's data was with Izumi, and she was with the others. But these stupid bug digimon didn't seem to know it...

"I am the one who defeated Sandiramon!" JagerLowemon proclaimed loudly. "If you want it now, you'll have to catch me! Ebony Blast!" His darts of hardened darkness aimed at the dusty ground, lifting obscuring clouds that the warrior used as cover to run through. His sense of direction told him he was going north, and he knew his friends were to the southeast back behind him. They'd be safe if he continued this way and west.

"Scorpion Storm!" The covering dust was too thick to see where the attack was coming from, so JagerLowemon slide evolved to Lowemon to hold his shield above him. It was pelted with the sand, and defended him from most of the aerial bullets, but he was buffeted in the sides, too, and it made him cringe.

Finally, when the dust and the sand was gone, Kouichi lowered his shield and took account of the situation.

Not less than sixty Scorpiomon surrounded him on all sides, their bladed tails poised and ready to attack. It was a whole army of them, probably just laying in wait until they knew where the data was...

Kouichi didn't dare to move a muscle, other than his eyes that scanned all of them in front of him. If only Takuya was here, or Junpei, or Izumi... they were strong. They also could fly and they could attack from above.

_"No use thinking about 'what ifs'!"_Kouichi reminded himself, his heart pounding. They were all so stiff, just waiting for a sign. _"I need to get pass them. Lead them away, that's all. I can't possibly defeat them all, especially without help. Must have been hiding all this time. Huge island. But I can't afford to outrun them, they might go looking and find the others. I wish Kouji was here to come up with a plan... what would he do?"_

"Stinger Surprise!" The energy blast from his backside made him stumble forward, which he used to give him a burst to run right towards the cluster of bug things in the front of him. He brought out his lance without a word, and parted the creatures before him with harsh strikes and blows from his weapon and shield. He could swear that this was the kind of feeling a soldier got when he was in the heart of a battle, and it thrilled and chilled him. He was being torn at by all sides, and it hindered his progress through the crowd that was all around him. Their surges were timed together and it made Lowemon be thrown in the direction they moved; he became off-balance and unable to defend when their claws came down every which way.

He tripped and fell when a particularly hard blow crashed into the side of his helmet, the ring echoing harshly. His head was pounding ferociously, but he still had the sense to turn over and hold up his shield to deflect some of the slashes coming down on him. He couldn't concentrate well for all the pressure behind his eyes, hard sickness starting to stew in the pits of his stomach. Every blow stung, and he told himself that he wouldn't even have a scratch when this was all over, but it _hurt_ so much and he was so dizzy.

He found himself breathing harshly, as a human again, staring straight up into some sort of light that streamed down between the leaves and over his face, wind washing over him like soothing water. He didn't know how he ended up like this, with no attacks going on above him, but he couldn't think about it without his head hurting. He was so tired and exhausted that he even had trouble sitting up to analyze what was going on.

Two items were hanging in the wind, shaped like puzzle pieces that seemed fitting into the forest around him. They were glowing a very light pink and yellow, like a sunset, and Kouichi blankly realized that those things had been the source for all the light in the forest. One was a leaf-like item and the other a piece of soft bark, and their pounding radiance seemed to be scanning the Scorpiomon. Their brown-silver particles broke off and mingled with the soft light and the trees and then into the soil, only leaving little brown eggs in their wake.

The power of the Keys also prompted the cut trees to grow back, and little green buds started to sprout over the dry land, the dust and sand turning into dark earth for foliage to survive on. It was breathtaking, the miracle that was blooming before Kouichi's eyes. He had the mind to awe, watching as the light slowly receded into the very core of the two keys as they floated down to him. He shakily took them, feeling his cuts start to burn with the healing power of the items he held, falling back to lie down for a moment. Even with all his 'injuries' healed, he had no strength left, and he felt... distant. Like he wasn't really awake, but he wasn't asleep, almost in a half-dream.

He could feel the heartbeat of the earth, the strength of the forest, protecting him from all around. The last thought that flitted through his tired mind before he fell into blackness was if Kouji and the others were okay.

* * *

"He's taking too long."

The chosen children looked up at the lone twin who had spoke, turning their eyes away from the little fire they made on the edges of the forest leading out the other side of the island.

"Kouichi's fine." Izumi said after a moment, not even able to reassure herself with her words.

"I _know,_" Kouji said harshly, then took a breath to calm his nerves. "He's just... taking too long."

Takuya stood up from the rock he sat on, brushing off remnants of the sand that had collected in his clothes. "I'll look for him. C'mon Kouji,"

Junpei stopped him, "Hey! I think you mean _we_. We should go together, as a group - a team."

"Yeah!" Tomoki cheered as he sat up, happy with the idea of something to do. He'd been getting bored as well as anxious. "You said it yourself, we shouldn't split up anymore!"

"They're right." Kouji muttered, crossing his arms and gazing back from where they came. Takuya smiled a little and nodded, the five human children and five little digimon setting off into the forest.

Tomoki then remembered something. "Guys, what about the D-Tectors? Maybe we can call Kouichi on 'em."

Kouji immediately brought his device up to his face, pressing buttons and hoping for a response. All any of them got was static when they tried, unable to reach their missing teammate. But Kouji did get a map to appear, a purple light blinking towards the northwest. He confidently headed that way, not for a moment doubting the signal to be anything other than his brother's D-Tector.

They hiked for a little less than an hour, noticing that the shadows were now more prominent, despite that it wasn't even sundown yet. The ground didn't seem trampled or dusty or anything like it had seemed before, and when they passed the trees that Tomoki had cut, they were surprised that new little saplings were already growing.

"Kouichi? Nii-san! Can you hear me?" Kouji called, feeling that they were close. But no one heard any response, and they had to fan out for a good scan.

"Here! Here, I found him!" Lopmon called, rushing to the unmoving boy first and crawling into his lap. "Kouichi-kun? Are you asleep?" The bunny lifted his ear over the boy's loose bangs, and he felt the fluttering of his eyes.

Kouji knelt down, glancing over his brother critically, trying to access the invisible damage. The others hovered around a bit, scanning over the many eggs that lay discarded in the growing grass. There were maybe fifty or so eggs, by rough guess, and they suddenly got worried. Kouichi must have been so utterly exhausted from the fight, to have defeat all of them.

"Mnh..." A low grown caught everyone's attention, and they looked expectantly to Kouichi's fluttering eyelids. Kouji in particular brightened up as his brother started to wake, laying one hand over the other's and squeezing slightly.

Kouichi felt a little winded because of the pressure on his chest, but didn't mind when he realized it was Lopmon who sat on top of him. He felt oddly sleepy still, like his spirit was far away from his body (which it probably was, now that he thought about it), and the pressure in his hand felt like it was a million miles away from him.

"...ichi? Kouichi? Are you okay?" He had to concentrate very hard to understand the voice, to connect it to the person in his memory, and it sapped more of his strength as he tried to respond.

"Kouji..." said boy gripped his brother's hand a little more, worry consuming his heart.

"Can you move?" He whispered, his unoccupied hand reaching out to move his brother's bangs away.

"Not really." Kouichi could sense his brother's soft smile, even with his eyes shut closed. He groaned as he felt Kouji pull at his arms, and he blearily opened his eyes to watch as Takuya helped him onto Kouji's back. His legs were numb and shaking in Kouji's grip, and he squeezed his arms around his brother a little more as he felt himself drift off. He felt so sleepy that he was out cold by the time that he'd been carried back to camp.

_**-(to be continued)-**_

So, I finally got a little Tomoki/Kouji friendship in the beginning there, which was good. And overall, I'm happy with how this chapter worked out.

Stick around for the next instalments. I'm going to have lots of fun writing them! Ja matta ne, minna-san!


	7. Chapter 7

_**Return**_

Seventh chapter of Return, and officially half-way through the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Frontier in any way, shape or form.

Notes: I've revised the previous chapters a little, so things are a bit smoother and nicer than before (like the mishap with the digieggs suddenly disappearing is fixed now). The plot for chapters 7 and 8 were switched around so I could handle some excuses, and I fixed it up so that there is no more loop-hole! YOSH!

_"If we actually care about what other people need, then it doesn't matter that sometimes they need more than they can give back to us for a while." --Tommy Himi, episode 25; The Dark Heart of Friendship, English dub._

_**-(Chapter 7: The Castle)-**_

_"Where... where am I?" Kouichi's breath floated into his face, making him aware of the low temperature around him, and he shivered. He looked around hesitantly, watching as his movements stirred up cloudy mist, which only hindered his vision more. Everything around him, sights and sounds, were all muffled, and a sense of dread crept into his heart._

_Though a little frightened, Kouichi resolved to trek forward, crossing his arms over his chest to hold onto body heat. Things around him were so silent, so calm, that it was unnerving, and the boy shivered again. With no noise around him, his thoughts seemed too loud inside his head, most of which were bombarding him crazily. How did he get here? Where was here? What happened to the others?_

_"Where am I!?" He hadn't expected an answer to his call, but oddly enough, the ground shook in response. Kouichi lost his balance in the movement, falling backwards, feeling the vibrations under his feet and hands pound their way up into his head like the beat of a song. The sound was so loud and powerful, that the dark-haired boy hadn't noticed the misty ground before him making way for some sort of object bursting out of the ground. Points of some sort of roof emerged before Kouichi was forcibly tossed backwards as something huge came up from underneath him._

_The dizziness slowly subsided, and when all was calm once more, Kouichi risked a peek. What he saw before him he hadn't expected to see, and he gasped._

"AH!" Startled, the warrior of darkness shot straight up out of bed, pressing a hand against his sweating face, panting as he got a hold of himself.

"A... a castle?" he asked aloud after a little while of staring at the air in front of him. Nothing answered him, except for the pounding of feet coming closer. The door burst open, scaring him even more than the dream.

"What's wrong!?" Kouji asked, running towards him in panic. "Kouichi!?"

Said elder boy shushed his brother, calming him. "It was nothing. Just a dream. Nothing's wrong."

The younger boy deflated, regaining his breath. Kouichi smiled at him patiently, then turned to look around the unfamiliar room they were in.

"Where are we?" he asked.

Kouji sat on the bed next to him, "A cheap hotel in a town that's on the outskirts of the Autumn Leaf Fair." He replied, checking out the window to watch the snow fall in the afternoon light.

"What?" Kouichi turned to look outside also, surprise filling his voice. "But, how'd we get here?"

"The digimon of the area sent a rescue boat for us when we didn't come back and then they brought us here on a Trailmon."

Kouichi paused a moment, looking down at the crisp white blankets that lay in his lap. "Then... I've been out all day?"

Kouji gave a little nod, turning away. "We've been restocking, mostly. Apparently there's a rumor that the Autumn Leaf Fair's heater is broken. Takuya wants us to check it out to see if we can help..."

"Huh..." Kouichi mumbled, not really paying attention. More so, he was just staring out the window, eyes cloudy with thoughts. He wasn't worried at all about anything to do with the Fair, but rather how he himself was doing. His spirit wasn't supposed to be hurt, and yet here he was, having been out cold for some 10 hours or whatever. He wasn't supposed to sustain damage, and yet he could feel the ache from the battle beforehand, and the pounding of a headache coming on.

"Kouichi?" Said boy turned back to reality, realizing that his twin had been watching him. "Are you... sure your okay?"

He wanted to say 'yeah, I'm fine', but he couldn't bring himself to lie to his brother anymore. He'd already tried to avoid telling the truth, and it hadn't worked out before. "I... I got a bit of a headache." He finally admitted, looking out the window again.

"Could it be a key?"

The elder brother turned to lock eyes with his twin, the thought having never occurred to him. "Now that you mention it," he said, "it might be."

Happily, the six human children along with their five digital companions sat together for supper, food being provided without cost for the brave heroes. With the little town being so close to the water, most edible items were fish and seaweed, but the kids were satisfied, accustomed to the somewhat oriental-style dishes.

"So do tell us how you managed to defeat all those Scorpiomon, Kouichi?" Bokomon prompted, an easygoing atmosphere settled around the dining room. But despite that, Kouichi went a little hot from the spotlight being turned on him, and he gulped a little.

"I... It wasn't really me. I er... the keys... Oh! The Wood and Earth keys helped out a lot." He explained nervously, and some of his friends gawked.

"You mean you got two more of them?" Takuya exclaimed.

"Well, yeah..." Kouichi fished into his pocket, pulling them out and handing them over to the fire warrior.

"Wow, that's great!" Izumi piped cheerily, "Who knew that there were three keys on one little island?"

Izumi and Kouichi exchanged quick glances, while everyone else turned to Bokomon, who noticed with a start.

"Er, right!" He opened his book up on the dining table, with Neemon, Patamon, Salamon and Lopmon gathering around him. "Well, before the world was reborn, before the corrupted Legendary Warriors started to destroy the world, it says that the guardian of the island, Sandiramon, was intent to gather any power it could. It could have taken the keys from the Scorpiomon, and that's why they were so intent to rebel."

"So, saving the Digital World and reviving it just set things back to the way they were before?" Kouji huffed, crossing his arms.

"Hm, I wonder why we never heard about any of these keys before?" Tomoki wondered aloud, earning some looks.

"Probably everything was too tremulous to even think about the Gate." Takuya muttered.

"Well, wait," Izumi said, putting a finger to her lips, "Didn't Lucemon want to get into the real world? Those keys would have done the trick, right?"

"Then they were probably destroyed before anything bad could happen," Junpei realized. "Maybe even disappeared along with the data of the Continents when they were scanned."

"It doesn't matter what happened before," Takuya finally announced. "What matters now is finding the rest of those keys."

"But there aren't any clues as to where any of them might be," Izumi countered, frustrated. "We haven't found any consistency between where we found all of our keys before. Up until now, we found them with sheer luck!"

"Don't forget that Kouichi can sense those things," Junpei suddenly reminded, and the group nodded, turning to the boy.

...who wasn't in his place.

"Er, Kouji? What happened to your brother?" Takuya asked, baffled that none of them had noticed the dark boy's absence.

"I thought he just got up to look outside," Kouji growled to himself, noticing that his brother wasn't at the window or anywhere else in sight.

Tomoki and the younger twin moved to the window to check outside, where the snow was dropping down heavily. But it wasn't so bad that they couldn't spot the distancing figure walking away from the hotel.

"What is he doing?!" Kouji muttered, rushing outside with the littlest boy on his heels, the others gathering at the window to watch them. It was easy enough to catch up to the warrior of darkness, who seemed to be just wandering aimlessly forward, his eyes misty as if hypnotized. Kouji had a moment of panic inside him, almost afraid that some dark force put a spell on his brother again or something like that, when Tomoki pulled at Kouichi's sleeve, and the boy woke up.

"Wh...what?" The elder twin looked around, surprised and dizzy. "Kouji? Tomoki? How'd I get out here?"

The other two gave each other a look, turning to Kouichi with confusion on all of their parts. Kouji just shook his head then, taking his brother by the arm, "Explanation later. Let's go back inside before you catch cold."

"Huh..." Kouichi let himself be lead back towards the little hotel, but couldn't help himself from looking over his shoulder almost longingly. What was it that had been back there...?

Tomoki saw the other turn and did so himself, staring out into the vast whiteness in front of him. Between the snow blowing in his face and the wind rushing in his ears, the young brunette couldn't differentiate between what was earth or sky, let alone try and pick anything out in the distance.

Wait... what was that...?

"Tomoki! C'mon!" Kouji called, and the warrior of ice shook his head, and thus the odd mirage disappeared. He blinked, then turned around and ran to the twins' side, soon returning to the warmth of the hotel.

* * *

Kouichi was huddled on a soft, low, green couch, sitting in front of the fire with a hot cup of steaming tea held between his hands and a blanket around his shoulders. The snow outside hadn't let up, and instead gotten worse throughout the day, trapping the team inside the hotel for the time being. They had decided to head towards the Autumn Leaf Fair as soon as they had the chance so they could help out with the heater, and then they'd see where Kouichi's 'sense' would lead them next.

The dark-haired boy sighed, sipping slowly on his tea. Ever since he woke up, he'd had one of those aching headaches pounding in the back of his head. Kouji might have been right about him sensing a key, but the problem was that he had no idea where the pounding was coming from. There was no specific direction, just a very deep and annoying ache behind his eyes that made him dizzy.

"Still not feeling well?" Kouji asked softly as he sat next to his brother on the couch, his own cup of tea held in one hand as the other pat Kouichi's shoulder lightly.

"Mm," The elder twin shook his head, staring into the fire quietly. "I don't know, Kouji. What if it's not a key, and I'm just feeling after-effects of the fight?" He asked, worried.

"Then the ache will go away soon," Kouji promised, watching as his twin turned his eyes down into his cup.

"I keep thinking about what happened earlier," Kouichi whispered slowly. "I wonder what's out there? Why can't I remember what I was looking for?"

Kouji turned to look outside, the storm howling and everything covered in white. "I'm not sure. But you can't go looking now, it's too dangerous." Kouichi stifled a little chuckle, grinning at his younger twin's over-protective nature.

"Okay, _Nii-chan_."

"Hey, I'm serious!"

Kouichi laughed aloud, nodding his head, and Kouji grinned too, feeling happy that he could make his brother smile.

The merry atmosphere was cut short when the power went out, everything suddenly thrown into darkness. The twins frowned, putting down their cups and stood together, gazing through the darkness.

"I bet the storm outside did this," Kouji grumbled while his eyes adjusted to the firelight. Kouichi was easily able to see in the dark, peering around for some sort of sign, and looking for the others.

"Where is everyone?" He asked finally.

"Upstairs probably, or in the dining room. C'mon," Kouji found his brother's arm, tugging him towards the hallway, surprised to find Kouichi resisting.

"Wait," He said, a certain odd... sleepy quality slowly creeping into the elder twin's voice. "Wait... there's something... something out there," He mumbled slowly, walking towards the window.

"Kouichi, we can't go out in that storm!" Kouji protested.

"No, look! Out there!" Kouichi pointed, and the younger tried to look through the raging snow to pick out what his brother was talking about. "It's out there! The castle!"

Kouji turned on his brother, his brows scrunched together half in suppressed anger and half in overwhelming concern. "Kouichi, there isn't anything out there but snow! Especially not some weirdo castle! You're just tired."

"No!" Kouichi tried to head towards the door, but Kouji blocked the way, forcefully dragging him away. "No, there _is_ something out there! There _is_! Kouji!!"

"Kouichi, no! I'm not letting you go outside in this!"

The warrior of darkness was about to yell again, when something roused him of his sleepy rationalization. It sounded like a door opening.

The twins turned when they felt a blast of freezing air hit them, watching numbly as Tomoki rushed outside into the storm and closed the door behind him.

* * *

"I must be crazy," Tomoki muttered to himself, holding onto his hat that was threatening to blow off of his head for all the wind. The snow didn't hinder him, and in fact, the cold seemed to be helping his strength, but he was faring badly against the harsh gales. He wasn't sure what direction that... mirage... castle was, but he had a suspicious feeling that the wind was blowing him _away_ from it. So he had to fight the headwind with all his might.

He had been very worried over Kouichi the whole time, and he could tell that everyone around him was nervous. If the warrior of darkness was a _spirit_ and could still be hurt from using spirit-evolution, then what did that mean for the rest of them? But of course, no one was that selfish, they were all just worried over him. Without the overwhelming task of saving the world on their shoulders, their own problems seemed heightened.

The brunette hadn't been exactly sure what that mirage really was before, but after a long afternoon of contemplating, he was sure it had been in the form of a castle. And even if it was just a mirage, he chose to believe what Kouichi was seeing. There _was_ something out here, and he was the one crazy enough to go find it. Besides all of that, he could just feel something out here, calling to him, somehow like the beating of his heart.

Another step against the harsh icy wind and Tomoki could feel his ears starting to go numb, the whistling of the air starting to sound like it was a song as it whooshed passed... wait. That didn't sound like the wind at all anymore. It sounded like some sort of flute, and it was making him dizzy. The younger warrior of ice took a deep breath of the cold air around him, feeling the chill stir and fill him with new strength, enough so that he regained his senses and was able to push forward once more. Without at doubt, the wind wasn't making that melodic tune, it had to be an instrument of some sort.

The wind and the music suddenly stopped, and Tomoki heard a distinctly female voice speak, "Hah? A human child has gotten through my spells? How unusual."

The snow was falling gently now and the boy blinked, gazing curiously up at the one who had spoken, hovering 6 feet above the ground with the help of a tattered old broom. The woman - a digimon, no doubt - was dressed in the likeness to that of a witch of western culture, with long red robes and a pointy hat, along with blond hair and some black boots. And behind her, a fading mirage of a giant castle of ice stood tall and proud.

"Who are you?" Tomoki asked untrustingly, hand poised over his D-Tector, yet knowing full well that he should take care not to use up his strength digivolving.

"I, my dear little friend, am Witchmon, the sorcerer of this place. Now, who are you? One so strong as to actually get passed my barriers must truly be strong." The demon digimon twirled her pipe instrument around with nimble fingers, red lips settled in a content smirk that Tomoki didn't like one bit. He guessed that the harsh storm must have been _her_ doing, trying to drive away those who came close, probably because she was protecting something.

"I'm the Legendary Warrior of Ice." He answered strongly and braced himself when Witchmon's eyes lit up and she sat straighter on her broom.

"Oh! A Legendary Warrior! Then you've come to get the power? I knew this place attracted strong opponents, but never did I expect a real Legendary Warrior." Witchmon gasped, her broom hovering a little higher, as if to try and get a little further away from him.

Tomoki was still processing the information about the power that 'attracted' him, wondering if Kouichi had been drawn in by the same thing. "Then, Witchmon, are you guarding this power?"

The woman tilted her head curiously before she answered, "I am a sorceress, not a guardian. I play my Pipes to drive ones like you away - the music and the winds are a fierce combination, are they not?"

_"Then it must have been the music that made Kouichi dizzy,"_ Tomoki reasoned, remembering how the melodic tune had affected him before. He himself had only been able to come this far because of the power boost of the ice around him, fueling his Spirit because of the harmony it had with the element. "Then, this power," the brunette wondered carefully, "is it the Ice key?" Kouichi had said it had been a key, after all, but he hadn't been too sure, and the boy needed to make sure that if he was going to fight, that he'd gain what they needed.

"A key?" Withcmon stared a minute before bursting into laughter, throwing her head back, giving the boy the impression that she was taunting him. "There is no key here! So sorry to disappoint you, _Legendary Warrior_!" She sneered, before aiming her broom at him and charging.

Tomoki barely had the time to whip out his D-Tector, digivolving quick enough for Kumamon to dodge out of the way.

The demon digimon swooped up from hitting the ground, glaring at the little bear, "So you really _are_ a Warrior, then? But to get the power, you'll have to get passed me first."

Tomoki disregarded the fact that what she said practically made her the guardian, even though she believed she wasn't, mounting his weapon on his shoulders and preparing to fire. "Blizzard Blaster!"

The other twirled the pipe like a pinwheel, and when the snow hit, it was redirected away from her, falling harmlessly to the sides. "You'll have to do better than that, little bear. Aquari Pressure!" Following her hand movements, the water from the snow moved on its own, unfrozen, combining until a mini tidal wave had formed, crashing into the smaller fighter forcefully. He tumbled, doing back-flips until his head hit something and he had stopped, the water slowly subsiding just as a headache started to form.

_"Just what kind of power is she trying to hide? Because I really think a power boost would be handy right about now."_ Tomoki thought to himself, standing shakily and bracing a hand on the hard wall that he'd previously fell into, finding it cold. He soon found that he'd tumbled straight into the side of the Ice Castle's walls, and he knew straight away that Witchmon wasn't lying about the power concealed there. There was definitely a certain hum of strength inside the walls, held strong and powerful, that there was no wonder it had a sorcerer protecting it.

Tomoki suddenly remembered he was in the middle of a fight and turned quickly to where Witchmon was hovering, the pipe lifted up to her lips. She played a mismatched chord and a smog formed out of the open end, growing in synch to the note's crescendo, before finally cutting off. "Poison Storm!" Witchmon declared, sending the fog towards the small warrior, who was only now scrambling away from the ominous black cloud, but he had nowhere to hide, and it was only a matter of time before he was hit, sending Kumamon to his hands and knees. He found himself staring blearily at human hands covering purple snow, wondering just how she's managed to make him dedigivolve with only a few hits, when just a few days ago he could stand up to Lucemon's Chaos Attack.

_"I need to be stronger. We're only going to be here for a little longer, but until then I have to stay strong! I can't let my strength fail me now. I have to stay _strong_!!"_ Tomoki could breathe once again, a beeping alerting him to the crazy antics of his D-Tector, buzzing with light and flashing uncontrollably. The boy stood up with the device clasped in both hands, stretching it towards the castle. "Give me the strength I need! Please!" Tomoki asked, and the castle shimmered in response, the snow on the ground twirling around in the air.

The next thing he knew, Kumamon and Korikakumon were facing one another on either side of him, the power to bring them together coursing at the tips of his fingers. He grasped the intense strength and brought out his D-Tector, feeling empowered. "Execute!" He shouted, "Fusion Evolution!"

Just as Tomoki had gained his power to evolve, Witchmon had also experienced some of that surge, and when the new warrior stepped out of his evolution, not only was he different, but so was his opponent.

"LadyDevimon!"

"Daipenmon!"

Tomoki's form was big, but otherwise looked pathetically harmless compared to the evil, black woman that Witchmon had transformed into. Daipenmon was just a penguin with a little white hat and two popsicles for weapons, while his opponent was a devil, dressed in dark black with lots of chains, death white hair streaming behind her.

"Hahah!" LadyDevimon cackled and Tomoki resisted the urge to cover his ears - the devil's voice had grown scratchy and dark. "Not only have you gained the power, but so have I! This fight won't be so easy, _Legendary Warrior!_ Evil Wing!" A wave of flaming little bats came at the fusion warrior, who did not even attempt to move out of the way, instead crossing his popsicle weapons and waiting until the blow hit.

The darkness was strong and it took away his energy to hold it off, but he had not even needed to move. Still, it would be good to finish this off quickly, before he lost all of his strength. The penguin digimon held out his pink popsicle sword, pointing it towards the curious LadyDevimon, his voice rumbling deeply, "Strawberry extinction!"

A powerful pink light twisted through the icy air, just grazing LadyDevimon's right arm as she leaped out of the way. The lightning-like beam wrapped around her arm and she screamed as a pink frost started to cover it until her fingers were numb. She shook the beam off fiercely, but not in time to save her frozen limb. Her eyes darkened as a wicked grin spread across her devilish face. "Sorry, my dear little friend, but that was the wrong hand!"

Daipenmon was suddenly being charged by a raging woman digimon, left arm transformed into a long black spike that twinkled at the ends threateningly. Slow but graceful, the warrior of ice took a step to the side and blocked the attack with his popsicles, using them as swords to keep LadyDevimon at a stand-still. Unfortunately she was way too fast, and after a successful block, Daipenmon was suddenly being slashed at from all sides by the spike, too quick for him to comprehend.

It only took him a slight pause in the devil's onslaught to grip his stick-weapons and swing it, throwing her out of her momentum and into the air. Dizzy, she was unable to straighten herself as the Legendary Warrior pointed his blue popsicle towards her.

"Blue Hawaii Death!" a strong blast of blue rushed towards LadyDevimon and the only thing she could do was gawk as the attack rushed around her, covering her whole body with icy shards. Her wings were left immobilized and she fell to the ground, groaning with the effort of moving her numbed limbs. She just barely was able to sit up as Daipenmon lumbered over to her.

"You've lost, LadyDevimon," He rumbled, "This power is mine alone." He swiped both of his popsicles as one over her chest and her fractal code immediately made its appearance, along with a horrified shriek. "Rest, and let my digivice purify you. Fractal code: digitize."

LadyDevimon's egg flew up into the sky just as Tomoki landed onto the ground, panting and exhausted. His eyes brightened when his D-Tector beeped, and as soon as the young boy pressed the "render" button, the snow on the ground evaporated in a splendid wonder of white sparkles, and the ice castle broke down into flakes that mixed and danced with the wind. Slowly, the last of the castle was broken down, and when all the sparkles had finally evaporated or flown off with the breeze, Tomoki was left in a frost-bitten field with harmless white clouds floating across the sky. The storm was finally over.

* * *

Tomoki saw the group out a ways, running to meet him, and he smiled proudly, hurrying towards his friends.

"Tomoki! You got the storm to stop!" Izumi exclaimed, gathering the younger boy into her arms for a hug.

Said boy laughed brightly, "Yep! And all I had to do was beat LadyDevimon with _this_," he presented his D-Tector, and an image of Daipenmon flashed across its screen, lighting up the other's faces.

"Let me see! I wanna see!" Neemon complained as the others gasped and awed over their youngest member. Tomoki showed them proudly, and Bokomon gave the boy a pat on the head.

"Oh, Tomoki you've done splendid! You're fusion evolution must have been very powerful! And you don't even look tired," he rambled and the boy nodded slightly.

"Well, I _am_ pretty tired, no doubt about that," He muttered modestly, then turned to Kouichi. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't find any keys. LadyDevimon was making people confused so that we didn't get the power. The Ice Castle disappeared when I rendered her code."

"Don't be sorry," Kouichi smiled, "I'm just glad you're alright."

"So there _was_ a castle?" Kouji spoke up and Tomoki nodded. "But no keys. Hmm,"

Junpei waved his hand dismissively, "That doesn't matter. Tomoki got his fusion! Now we can go and find _his_ key."

"Right," Takuya agreed, "but first we have to go to the Autumn Leaf Fair."

_**-(to be continued)-**_

I'm very very sorry for the prolonged wait!! I didn't realize how much the summer would effect my writing. Gomen nasai!

Anyway, I'm very pleased with the content of this chapter! Elaborated on lots of random things that I hadn't expected to go into detail about, and so the chapter came out pretty decent-sized. It wasn't all about the one thing that was supposed to happen, and instead had a lot of other little stuff in there. Good for me. Oh, and I drew some sketches for this chapter (one where Kouichi just wakes up, and another where Tomoki is looking up at the castle of ice), so I want to put the URLs in sometime (when I get around to scanning them in, that is). So, hooray! Stick around for the next chapter! Too bad there wasn't any kind of cliffhanger to make you want to go read the next one... hrm...


	8. Chapter 8

_**Return**_

_Finally,_ the 8th chapter! It's a miracle!

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Frontier in any way, shape or form.

Notes: Before you read this chapter, go back and make sure you read the revised ending of chapter 7. I've redone it so that the loop-hole has been taken out, but if you don't read it, you won't understand what happens in _this_ chapter. And sorry for the prolonged wait! Gomen nasai!

Warnings: swearing in this chapter! Uh... that shouldn't be a big problem, should it?

_"I'm still just a kid. But everybody else is not! Takuya-oniichan and Kouji-san, Junpei-san too... In order to save the Digital World they need the Digivices to make them strong!" --Tomoki Himi, episode 17; Blizzardmon! Blow the Snow, Call the Glacier! Japanese sub. Bizarre Bazaar, English dub title._

_**-(Chapter 8: The Snow that Never Stops)-**_

Though the six wielders of the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors were eager to get a move on to the next town, it was late, and their youngest team member was practically falling asleep while standing up. So everyone agreed to staying in the hotel for one more night, planning to leave the next morning for the Autumn Leaf Fair, and hopefully find another key.

Kouichi was tired from Witchmon's spell, and while the pipes had finally stopped playing and the dizzying sensation had all but faded, he apparently still had a slight headache. Kouji's wolf-like, overprotective nature lead him to stay in Kouichi's room for the night, and the others shrugged off the long-haired twin's attitude, fretting more over Tomoki.

That night was hard for all of them, filled with many tosses, turns, and suddenly finding themselves awake. More than once did one of them get up to check on the others, only to find the them awake as well, rubbing their eyes in slight surprise. The morning wasn't much better, the sunrise heralding many yawns as the team slowly awoke to the smells of breakfast. Tomoki was the last out of bed, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and slumping at the table. Thankfully, after a hearty meal the digidestined team (plus the digimon) were more energetic, and ready to hit the road. The Trailmon were happy to give the Legendary Warriors a ride without tickets, to thank them for clearing up the storm.

"This is our third trip to the Fair!" Bokomon exclaimed , having opened his book and was paging through his notes. "I don't see how the Heater could be _broken_."

"Does that mean it'll be cold?" Neemon asked, poking his friend.

"Of course, you twit! If the Heater doesn't work, then the snow of the area could wipe out the town."

The three angels that had been listening to the story looked at each other in worry, but then Takuya stood up in the aisle of the Trailmon, gathering everyone's attention.

"Don't worry! We'll get the Heater up and working in no time!" He smirked confidently and the others sweat dropped slightly, but agreed.

The ride wasn't a long one, and when they arrived at the station (the same that, about a week ago, they'd evacuated all the Digimon off of) they definitely noticed a big difference.

"It _is_ cold!" Neemon giggled obliviously while the others exhaled icy breaths in astonishment.

"I didn't think the Fair would be this bad..." Junpei mumbled, eyebrows scrunching together. Beside him, Izumi shivered as the icy wind traveled passed them.

"The whole town..." Kouichi gaped.

"...is buried in snow." Kouji finished, scowling. Truly, one could not see the ground for all the snow, and most buildings were inaccessible because their doors were under the piles of white. Only the tops of the buildings were actually visible, and even those had collected a good foot of snow on their roofs. The Heater, tall and once the life of the town, was now adorning hundreds of icicles on its pipes, the vents frozen shut, frost covering every inch so that the color was now a bluish-brown.

"Ah," Tomoki gasped slightly, and the group pulled out of their horrified stupor to glance at the littler boy, his palms outstretched. "It's snowing."

The group looked at the sky and indeed, there were heavy snow clouds situated above the town, even though the rest of the world looked perfectly clear. They watched the snow fall for a while, noticing that even though there was a slight breeze, the clouds above the town did not move an inch.

"It's been like this since the Rebirth." The Digidestined team tensed slightly out of instinct, turning to the group of Frigimon that had shown up. But seeing that they were harmless, their defenses fell, and Takuya took a step towards them.

"So, the Heater isn't working?"

"No, afraid not." The Frigimon mumbled amongst themselves in a nervous manner, pointing towards the sky. "And the snow hasn't stopped falling at all. Only the ice-affiliated Digimon can live here now, and the Fair is a disaster without its tourists."

"Yeah, this place definitely feels a lot different," Izumi agreed, stepping up next to Takuya. "Has anyone tried to fix it?"

"Of course," the Frigimon nodded. "Datamon has worked diligently on the Heater, but no matter what, we can't seem to get it to work right." Tomoki smiled excitedly when his friend's name was mentioned.

"Well the Legendary Warriors are here to help," Takuya gave a thumbs up. "Just tell us what we should do!"

* * *

Their reunion with Datamon wasn't as spectacular as Tomoki had hoped it to be, squeezing themselves inside of the Heater's mechanics room, the small door having been cleared of snow beforehand. The cramped room didn't allow much movement for them, so even simple hugs were hard to manage, but all noticed the significant difference in Datamon's physical state, as his body was new and bandage-free, complimenting his improved look.

"All right, all right, quit the chatter," Datamon waved off the reunion, grumpy as he always was. "Look, as I'm sure you've noticed, this place has gone cold, and the problem is with _this_," He tapped a big frozen screen with his wrench for emphasis. "But I'm not sure _what_ the problem is." He started pulling wires and Tomoki got down on his knees to help, Junpei right behind him. Izumi put a hand on her chin, while the Digimon gazed from the other side of the door, and the rest just watched Datamon work.

"There's gotta be something that made the Heater work before..." Kouji muttered, mostly to himself. His train of thought was cut off though as there was a sudden weight on his shoulder. He turned to find his twin's forehead resting there, and Kouji caught him before he collapsed, the younger surprised to find his brother had broke out in a light sweat. "Kouichi, what's wrong?"

"Mng... head hurts..." Kouji watched his twin hold his head, then glanced worriedly up at Takuya, who met his gaze seriously. They helped Kouichi crawl out of the room, letting him rest against the side of the Heater to clear his head. Inside, his friends could only spare worried glances out the door, as suddenly they were busy reconnecting wires, experimenting with buttons and testing levers, trying to figure out what wasn't allowing the Heater to run.

Lopmon crawled his way to Kouichi's side, touching him with his large ear as if to access damage. Bokomon buried himself in his book, his worry obvious in his face. Kouichi wasn't paying attention, bringing his forehead down onto his knees, massaging his temples.

"This means there's a key around here somewhere," Takuya cried, a fist slapping into his hand. "I'm going to go look around."

"I'll go with you!" Patamon chimed, flying off with him as the bubbling brunette bounded away. Kouji sighed in relief as he went, then sat himself against the Heater next to Kouichi. Salamon went to inform the others, and Neemon started to make a mound of snow, giggling at his creativity.

"I wonder if the key has anything to do with the Heater bring broken," Kouji mumbled, then glanced at his ailing twin, feeling his own head ache at the sight. "You're head started to hurt when we were inside..."

"Y-yeah," Kouichi answered shakily, trying to pay attention. "But I don't think I can give a direction. It hurts too much..."

Kouji rubbed his shoulder and Lopmon hugged his leg, and Kouichi felt a slight bit better.

* * *

Tomoki pulled out a clump of sparking wires and then wiped his slightly-wet brow with the back of his hand, tired. He shoved the wires into Datamon's hands, who started to use the extra pieces to connect other broken wires back together, Junpei and Izumi still testing various combinations of buttons and levers. One of the switches that the eldest boy was trying to move suddenly unstuck, and the mechanics churned, giving off a loud screech. Surprised, as all the other levers were frozen stiff, Junpei pulled the switch back to its place, the others giving him startled stares.

"What kind of noise was _that_?" Izumi asked, shaking along with Salamon, who was huddled in her arms.

"I'm ain't sure," Datamon admitted, dumping his load of wires into the surprised Junpei's arms, who looked vaguely guilty. Tomoki crawled along next to his Digital companion, and they both stared at the lever for a moment or two, before the human boy put his hand on it.

It moved easily, and the sound of churning, grinding metal gears started up again, the high-pitched screeching making everyone hold their ears. Datamon reflipped the switch, rubbing his chin.

"If I'm not mistaken, it sounds like something is in the gears." He tapped the side of the wall with his wrench, pressing his head against the metal to listen for echoes. "Tomoki, pull the lever again for a moment, will ya?"

The boy did as told, cringing as the metallic grinding gave him and the others a headache. He quickly flipped it back when Datamon made a vague gesture to do so, sighing as the sound went away.

Kouji barged in at that moment, looking miffed. "What the hell is going on in here?"

"There's something stuck in the gears," Izumi provided, pointing to the wall Datamon was pressed against. At that moment, Takuya poked his head in from the door, Patamon on top of his head.

"Hey, you know what I think?" Takuya brightened, rolling inside and making everyone slightly more cramped than before. "I bet another key is in there! That's what's making Kouichi's head hurt."

"You always think it's a key," Kouji grumbled, climbing out along with Salamon and Patamon to check up on said warrior of darkness.

"All right, I'm gonna need a screw driver, if you will." Tomoki handed the Datamon his tool, and he started taking apart the wall, which proved more difficult than expected with the screws slightly frozen. Takuya and Junpei helped carry the piece of wall out of the way when Datamon finally got it unhooked, and Tomoki immediately started to crawl inside. His small form allowed him to slip through the big mechanical gears, only getting his shirt caught once or twice, and only getting a small amount of cold oil on his hands and knees.

"Can you guys shine a light down here?" he called, squinting through the darkness. Izumi happily scooped up a flashlight and flicked it on, letting the beam fall into the tunnel. With the faint illumination, Tomoki could just pick out the difference between metal and... something that wasn't metal.

"I think I found it!" Wedged firmly between two overly large gears was something faintly blue, protruding outwards with translucent spikes, a kind of snow floating harmlessly around it, freezing everything it touched. With every beat of Tomoki's heart, a slight pulse went off in his head, corresponding to a slight wave of fresh snow from the icy item.

It was, without a doubt, the key of Ice.

Grabbing on to the protruding spike, he pulled on the key, but the only thing that moved were the gears that made another screech in protest.

"You okay, Tomoki?" Takuya called, and the youngest boy glared slightly at the key.

"Yeah, I'm alright. But the key is really stuck..." He looked at said item for a little while, before an idea struck him. "Guys, maybe if you switched on that lever, I could pull it out just as the gears start to move."

"Hey, that might not be such a crazy idea, if it weren't for the fact _you're_ still in there," Datamon pointed out admonishingly.

"Yeah, you don't wanna get stuck in there!" Junpei said worriedly.

"Don't worry, I'll be okay!" He assured brightly, and with uncertainty, Datamon carefully pulled the lever.

The gears shifted around the small boy, and he almost fell onto his side, a tight hold on the helpful little key keeping him rooted. As soon as the screeching started, Tomoki put all his strength into pulling on the key of Ice, planting his feet against the gears and lifting his body parallel to the floor.

Gravity decided then to play a trick on little Tomoki, and his D-Tector fell straight out of its pocket. The boy didn't notice until he heard the light thunk, and then witnessed the slight glowing coming from beneath him, the screen of the D-Tector beeping and bright. He was too caught up with tugging out the key to try and reach back for the device, growing worried as the screeching and grinding noises got louder and more monstrous.

The boy took in a deep breath, and then tugged forcefully backwards... and the Ice key unstuck.

* * *

"Tomoki? Tomoki!" Izumi called, still trying to shine the flashlight down the small tunnel. Takuya and Junpei huddled next to her worriedly, looking down the hall and ready to spring for the lever at any given moment. As it was, they'd left the machine moving, listening to the screeching and grinding with nervousness. Datamon kept his hand on the lever, ready to turn it off in a moment's notice, listening intently to the happenings of the inside of the machine.

There was a massive shiver throughout the Heater, and the group was suddenly hopeful that their youngest team member had managed to successfully pull the key out. Once the harsh, grinding chorus faded into the regular noise of a working machine, Datamon pulled the lever back. Well, he tried to, because he found that it was now stuck in the 'on' position.

"Datamon!" Takuya shouted in concern, "Turn it off! Tomoki's still in there!"

"The lever isn't agreein' with me! Now that the Heater's workin', the lever is frozen... in a manner of speaking." He pulled futilely, but the mechanics had locked the lever in place, and not even the brute strength of Junpei and Takuya combined could stop it.

"Tomoki!" Izumi shouted, watching the wall of gears move perpetually. "Tomoki!"

"Hey, he's over here," Kouji's voice interrupted, and the group turned to him, who pointed outside. Scrambling, they all rushed out into the snow, which was faintly steaming, where Tomoki was being tended to by Kouichi and the five digimon.

"Moki! What happened, little buddy?" Takuya asked, helping Kouichi lift the younger boy into a sitting position. Dizzy, said little buddy held his head for a while before he responded.

"I... dropped my D-Tector right before I got the key out. I think my Spirits helped me," he pulled out the shining, spiky, snowflake-shaped key of Ice for emphasis, which sparkled before them all.

"I think what he means is, how did you end up out here?" Kouichi clarified, tilting his head in curiosity.

"Oh... I think the Heater somehow sucked me out..." He looked up at the large brown structure, which was steaming from the melting ice, and the other's followed his gaze to a large pipe protruding three-fourths of the way up. "I think I fell from there."

"You alright?" Izumi questioned gently, helping Tomoki to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm okay now. Told ya I'd be fine!" He smiled and gave a thumbs up, which prompted Junpei to give him a good-natured pat on the back.

"Great job, Tomoki!" Datamon praised. "You got the Heater up and workin'. Soon enough, the town will be snow-free, all thanks to you."

"Heh yeah!" The boy rubbed the back of his head, "It's almost the same as when I got my beast spirit."

"That was just luck," Datamon countered playfully, and the two of them started to poke fun at each other while the rest of the group let out a collective sigh.

"Well, we found another key." Takuya mumbled to the others, letting Patamon reclaim his spot on his cap.

"How many left?" Kouichi asked.

"Three - Darkness, Wind, and Thunder," Kouji answered, pulling down his fingers to count.

"And Wind will probably be next, since you already have your fusion," Junpei said to Izumi and the blond gave a bubbly smile.

"And I can't wait until that happens!"

_**-(to be continued)-**_

Hey, if you haven't checked out my newest fic, Girl of Glue, you should. It's got a much better vocabulary and is more constructed than this adventure piece.

Sorry about the long waits between updates! Thank you for reading, if you did! I'm eternally grateful for your persistence in waiting! Hopefully something in this chapter will make you want to read the next, and then, maybe I'll still have readers by the end. Heh...

I feel like I should have added more Tomoki/Kouichi friendship bonding moments, and I know that I won't be able to for the next two chapters. Depending on length (and time), actually, chapters 10 and 11 might just be one big chapter, but I won't be sure until it is written. Oh, and as a note on Kouji counting the keys: Japanese count by holding up all their fingers, then bringing down the counted ones - exactly opposite of how Americans count. Interesting, ne?

Again, thanks for reading!! Ja ne!


	9. Chapter 9

_**Return**_

Announcing the ninth chapter of _Return_. This fic is nearing its climax. As I've stated before, _Return_ will finish, but as to when that will happen...

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon frontier in any way, shape, or form.

Warnings: Fighting...

Notes: Just a reminder, this is an alternate world we are dealing with here. Natural phenomenon works differently in the Digital world then in the Human world. So when you can't picture a swamp and a jungle in the same geographical location, I suggest you get over it.

_Flashback: "I don't see how the Heater could be broken."_

_"no matter what, we can't seem to get it to work right."_

_"There's a key around here somewhere..."_

_"It's almost the same as when I got my beast spirit." _

_**-(Chapter 9: The Fire Works!)-**_

"Takuya, this is pointless."

The group groaned in agreement with Kouji's harsh understatement, dragging their feet through afternoon-heated mud as the bubbling goggle head skipped ahead, turning around and marching backwards to face his team.

"What are you talking about! At least we aren't walking in circles," he pointed out cheerily, waving his hands in encouragement.

"This is worse!" Kouji fumed, the heat getting to him, even if he'd taken his jacket off long ago. "We're just following some random direction you picked, so we might as well be running around in circles!"

"Hey, well, at least I'm actually _trying_ to find our way home! I don't see _you _helping anything," the brown-haired boy snapped, facing forward once more and crossing his arms.

Kouji grit his teeth, warping the jacket in his hands by twisting his fists over it. "I was trying to help Kouichi figure out which direction we should go. At least he has an idea, unlike you, who just goes wherever he fancies!"

"But since Kouichi couldn't figure out where to go we needed to do something instead of just sitting around!"

"Stop fighting!!" Izumi screamed, halting the tiring exchange, hands poised in the air. The humid, swampy jungle seemed to screech eerily with the echoes of frightened Digimon, the group growing quiet after the girl's outburst. Kouji took the moment to regain his head and his breath, shaking himself of annoyance and noticing the wariness in the rest of his friends. Takuya too could tell his team didn't have as much energy as he did running around in the too-hot climate, Tomoki and Kouichi looking particularly wary.

"Break time!" Junpei smiled, lifting the heavy atmosphere. He wiped sweat from his brow with an extra handkerchief before pulling out a few ice-cold bottles of water from a backpack.

"Excellent thinking, my boy!" Bokomon praised, grabbing a water bottle. "Icy water from the Autumn Leaf Fair! I approve!"

"Here," Kouji turned to Kouichi and guided him to sit on a less mossy rock, handing the boy some water and seizing his green over-shirt from his hands.

"Thanks," The elder smiled tiredly, unscrewing the bottle and taking a few gulps.

"How're you feeling?" Kouji asked, somewhat worried and at the same time curious. His brother's headaches were pretty much unpredictable, and so far they'd been lucky to have found what keys they had by just running after the warrior of darkness' "sixth sense".

"I'm okay," he sighed, closing his eyes in the familiar notion of trying to pinpoint the direction of the key's call. But oddly, he could not feel any strange, back-of-the-head pains, and the absence of such was almost.... unnerving.

Kouichi shook his head, frowning, "I'm sorry, but... I just can't feel anything. We must be too far away..."

Kouji swiped back his brother's sweat-soaked bangs, "No, it's okay. I'm glad it isn't bothering you for once."

"But we're lost..."

The younger brother just chuckled, "It's not so bad... besides, we've always got our D-Tectors, so..."

"Hey, great idea!" Takuya pounced up with a huge grin, startling the twins from their 'private' moment to watch the goggle head in curiosity. Said warrior of fire tugged out his device and clicked a few buttons until the circular map popped out, heralding cheers from the rest of the group.

"That would've been nice before!" Patamon giggled, flopping comfortably onto Takuya's hat to look down at the device. "Which way now, captain?"

Takuya chuckled uneasily, scratching his head and holding the digivice upside-down for a moment, before trying to hold it out properly once more, as if looking at it from a different angle would help. "Er... who was the one who programmed these things to just look for the Spirits, again?" he asked uneasily, sweat-dropping. The team groaned, their shoulders slumping in defeat, Kouichi's head going into his hands and Tomoki dropping carelessly into the mud.

"Let me see that thing!" Bokomon swiped Takuya's black hand-held from him in a huff, bringing out his trusty Book and making sure not to dirty the pages with mud.

"Hey, lemme see, lemme see!" Neemon whined as Bokomon studied, which prompted a good _snap_ to the yellow Digimon's waistband.

"Okay! Well.... umm.... According to the Digivice, we're in the Continent of Earth, and we just came from the Continent of Steel with that gargantuan lake and the island, and we're headed toward... umm? A big jungle... and there's a clearing, and some sort of... thing in the middle there.... Uh..." Bokomon flipped through the pages in confusion, and the group just sighed.

Lopmon turned to the warrior of darkness, climbing up onto his lap as to keep his ears from getting too muddy. "Do you have any idea where any of the keys are, Kouichi?"

The boy shrugged, "How am I supposed to know? I'm just sensitive to the call... besides, none of us have even heard of the keys before! We don't even know where they come from."

"Do we really want to hear another history lesson?" Takuya questioned, folding his hands behind his head in boredom. "Besides, we don't need to really know the history, we need to find them so we can go _home_. Have you forgotten?"

"Kouichi has a point," Kouji stated bluntly, angry at Takuya once again. "Maybe if we actually _knew_ a little more about these ten elemental keys to the Digital Gate, it'd help our search. So far, finding them has been blind luck!"

"Okay, okay!" Izumi stepped in once again. "Before you two start bickering _again,_ let's think about this for a minute. We're all tired, so maybe listening to a story wouldn't hurt - and since we don't know where to go, we may find some insight. Got it?"

"Sounds good to me, Izumi-chan!" Junpei agreed quickly, while Takuya huffed and rolled his shoulders, looking for a relatively clean place to sit. Kouji was just about to lean against a tree when Kouichi beckoned him to his side, and the group of warriors, plus the angels, settled around Bokomon in a mixture of interest and boredom.

"Alrighty!" Bokomon flipped to the beginning of the Book, smiling. "First off, the Gate was originally created as a passage from the Digital world to the Human world, and with its creation, the ten Elemental keys were born. They were powerful sources, only to be controlled by equally powerful wielders. When Lucemon became corrupt, the Ten Legendary Warriors destroyed the keys so that Digimon could not go to the human world, which was why Lucemon was so bent on creating that wormhole. Anyways, when the world was reborn, the ten keys must have been reborn as well - but scattered, just as the Digital world is."

Tomoki rolled his eyes, "That didn't tell us anything..."

Kouichi turned to the little digimon in his arms, "Lopmon, do you remember if there was ever a place where the keys were kept? You know - like how the Spirits were kept with the Angels?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure there was a place like that," Lopmon answered, pondering.

"Really!?" Takuya jumped to his feet, the other's eyes all wide. "Where??"

"Uhh..."

Salamon hung her head, "We don't know... it was so long ago. Plus, with the chaos that the Digital world is in now, I doubt the original place is in the same spot."

"Question is, where was that place?" Junpei wondered, scratching his chin.

"...You know," Tomoki spoke up quietly, fingering his water bottle, "We found like... half of the keys on that big ol' island, before. Do you think that place could have been...?"

"Close to where they were originally kept," Bokomon supplied, nodding his head in thought. "Well, it's a start... but that means we'll have to backtrack."

"No problem!" Takuya smiled, bringing out his D-tector which was finally blinking, to everyone's relief. With a destination in mind, the devices seemed to react, which was very good news. Marching happily, the gang finally set off with Takuya, Bokomon and Neemon in the lead, Izumi and Junpei directly behind him, Tomoki bouncing after them (feeling lots better now) with Salamon and Patamon, Kouji with Lopmon after that, and Kouichi in the back.

Kouji heard something humming in the back of his head just then, the vibrations crescendoing into a steady rumble that he couldn't ignore, but just as he was about to speak up, Junpei beat him to it.

"Do you guys hear something, or is that just my stomach?"

The ground rumbled seemingly in response, and Takuya turned with a slightly horrified look on his face, "That is definitely not your stomach!"

Kouji glared at the shaking ground beneath him, almost loosing his careful balance when Lopmon decided to roost at his shoulder. The earth gave a huge leap, and Kouji watched Kouichi fall backwards from the force, whose eyes were fixed on something in the ground. As soon as Kouji turned his gaze to the bubbling mud that had captured his brother's attention, a deafening _crack_ shot through the humid air, and the twins' eyes widened.

The ground was splitting.

Mud started to leak through, pouring in like sand through fingers. The sound of cracking continued as the small hole in the continent got steadily larger, pieces of land starting to crumble at the edges. Kouichi felt the mud around him start to seep towards the opening, and he scrambled to his feet, stumbling backwards. The ground crumbled away and continued to shake violently, the sound of startled yells the only background to the thrumming rhythm of the quaking earth.

Kouji realized what was happening and reached his hand out.

"Kouichi!" his brother's arm shot out for his, but their fingers only brushed.

The grumbling slowly ebbed, and all the noises faded into an eerie silence as the team took inventory.

"Is everyone okay?" Takuya asked with heavy concern, scanning the area. Four, five, six, seven heads... "Where's Kouichi?" His gaze went to Kouji, who's mouth was set in a very straight, unmoving line, his eyes gazing across the newly created abyss.

"H-He didn't fall, did he?" Izumi gasped, afraid, desperately searching the horizon for her missing friend.

There was a call from the distance, a faraway "Hey!" and they all turned to find their missing companion waving. The only problem was that a giant hole separated him from returning to their sides.

"Kouichi! You okay?" Izumi cupped her hand over her mouth to yell, the mirror image of the boy she addressed too frozen to have asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Kouichi assured, looking to either side of the creator and finding no easily accessible way over.

Junpei and Takuya simultaneously reached for their D-Tectors, only to be stopped mid-swing by the younger of the two twins. "We can't. Don't waste energy."

"But Kouichi...."

"Will be fine." The others stared at the resolute look on Kouji's face, unable to doubt his determination. The digimon, however, peered across to the warrior of darkness' distant form. Patamon was about to fly right across, but once again, Kouji stopped him. For a long moment, the flying orange creature was upset, but when he watched Kouji's face, he was overcome by the strangest sense of deja vu. The warrior of light was thinking hard about something.

Kouichi didn't see what was going on, trying to pay attention as Takuya waved his arms and pointed in a certain direction. Kouichi understood and gave a last farewell flick of the hand and started to walk parallel with the rest of the group. The farther they walked, the wider the abyss grew, until they soon could not see a sign of one another.

* * *

It was very quiet walking alone, without even the traces of his friend's echoing conversations breaching across the vast crack in the earth. The air was still as muggy as it had been earlier that afternoon, and Kouichi silently hoped that the temperature would go down with the sun.

The warrior of darkness tried not to daydream too much, worried about accidentally falling off the edge of the cliff, but it was hard to concentrate when there wasn't much to focus on. The only thing vaguely interesting to keep himself occupied was a very distant, hazy blue glare dancing on the horizon...

What in the world?

It took a long while - waiting for the day to get dark - until the boy could actually make sense of the glowing light. It looked like a blue bonfire, or make that a figure standing behind a fire... or a person on fire?

Kouichi started to run, momentarily worried that someone was in danger, but the closer he got, the more he started to understand that this was the makeup of a Digimon. Its head was encased in a metal helmet, had chains around its torso, and it had black pants on. He couldn't deduce much more before something hot, liquid-like and blue came hurdling towards him.

He was quick enough to dive out of the way, the incredible heat singing his left shoulder. He glared upwards, shifting into a battle-ready stance as he watched a metal-clad, blue-fire-skinned Digimon sauntering up to him without a care in the world.

He got to his feet as the creature paused before him, now close enough so that Kouichi could take note of the burning chain weapon laying in his opponent's hands.

"Who are you?" Kouichi demanded, feeling threatened by the other's incredible power.

"SkullMeramon," it hissed, steamy blue fire exiting on it's exhalation. It lifted a finger to point directly at him, and Kouichi flinched. "Give me the key."

The warrior of darkness bristled, "I don't know what you're talking about."

The chain whip came down directly in front of the boy's feet, and he jumped a foot, a startling _CRACK!_ resonating as the metal rebounded with a flick of SkullMeramon's wrist.

"Give me the key of Darkness!" SkullMeramon wasted no time and charged.

"Execute, Spirit Evolution!" Lowemon threw his staff downwards at his opponent and used the leverage to jump into the air. But all SkullMeramon had to do was turn his head and shout "Metal Fireball" and a hot fire attack shot from his mouth.

Lowemon's shield protected him from the blast as he was thrown to the ground, but the heat wave seemed to suck a lot of the Legendary warrior's energy out of him, and he was sweating as he got to his feet.

"Can't take the heat, Warrior of Darkness?" Lowemon answered the question with a Shadow Meteor, which SkullMeramon simply knocked away with a swish of his chain.

"Slide Evolution!" JagerLowemon instantly lit up in a glow of red and darkness, pouncing forward with a fatal cry of "Dark Master!" The attack hit SkullMeramon straight-on, and as Lowemon slide to a stop and turned around, he was greatly surprised when the other's whip wrapped around his body.

SkullMeramon walked out of the darkness and the dust with a hideous smirk. "I will ask once more. Give me. The key."

JagerLowemon growled, and the next thing he knew, he was being flung upwards, and sideways, and into the ground.

"Heat Chain!" The whip burned the Beast Evolution's metal covering and seemed to be melting it where it touched. JagerLowemon growled in pain as he was battered around, weak attempts as "Ebony Blast" missing his opponent completely.

Kouichi finally fell at the edge of the cliff, burnt and exhausted, staring up at the approaching SkullMeramon with fearful hate. The Digimon's boot pressed into his stomach, and Kouichi flinched from the overwhelming heat that radiated from the fire.

"Goodbye, Key of Darkness," he said, then pushed him with his foot into the black abyss.

* * *

When he opened his eyes, there was no falling, no sky, no ground, no top, no bottom; nothing but darkness all around him. It comforted him, and yet worried him at the same time.

A blink, and he could see his partner's vague figure standing – floating? - there before him.

"Lowemon," Kouichi's voice whispered and echoed in the darkness like feint fluttering of wings in a cave. The boy then turned around and saw his Beast form standing behind him.

He suddenly wasn't in the darkness anymore, but in his memories, watching Kouji as his brother received Seraphimon's power into his D-Tector. Even though it was slightly painful to remember what he had been back then, he now knew what was happening.

He took his D-Tector into his hands, watching as the screen flashed back and forth between his evolutions. And then he saw the elegant face of something new, something mysterious and powerful. Someone with Lowemon's mask, only more powerful looking, with jewels encrusted in the eyes of the mask.

"Execute! Fusion Evolution!"

Strength and power flowed back into Kouichi's tired body. The image of a huge, cat-like Digimon, clad in elegant black armor and adorning powerful golden wings, flashed through his mind. He automatically knew it was AncientSphinxmon, the Ancient Warrior of Darkness. Then as fast as it had come, it disappeared, leaving the memory of AncientSphinxmon's image in the background of his head.

"Reichmon!" The darkness started to get slightly lighter, until the blue fire of SkullMeramon came into view above him. The warrior of Darkness burst up from the cavern into the night sky, drinking up the light of the three moons and the gentle glow of the starlight. This, and the cooling breeze of after-twilight gave him a sense of freshness and strength he'd never known.

His peace was broken by a metal ball of fire hurtling towards him.

Reichmon swung his improved staff, complete with four metal daggers at its end, at the attack and it was made ineffective instantly, dissolving into little blue embers that rained down like snow. SkullMeramon's resulting frustrated growl was music to Kouichi's ears.

Flexing AncientSphinxmon's replica golden wings on his back, Reichmon tested his abilities as a flying Digimon and started circling overhead.

"Black Theorem!" a black darkness more intense that Lowemon's Shadow Meteor and JagerLowemon's Ebony Blast shot from the cannons fastened to Reichmon's shoulders shot down at the blue target. Dust and embers sprouted from the dry earth, and Reichmon's view of his opponent was momentarily obscured.

From the cloudy ground, a spark zoomed into the air, and he moved out of its way so that it passed by his shoulder harmlessly. Then, from behind him, there was a very loud _Crack_ and he turned only to be blinded by bright light.

Reichmon caught himself by his wings before he hit the ground, his eyes still burning from the the sudden photosensitive scandal. His sharp instincts helped him throw his weapon in front of him right when SkullMeramon's chain whip came flying at him, which then wrapped itself around his staff. An almighty tug pulled his ancient rod out of his hands.

At the corner of his eye, he saw a metal cannon sitting at SkullMeramon's side, steam spewing from its mouth. At the other's feet was a pile of paper cylinders that Kouichi could see were fireworks, which explained the airborne explosion he'd experienced. In his opponent's hand was his staff, chains wrapped up and down its length.

The cannon aimed towards him, and he had to jump up into the air to dodge the fired missile, its smokey trail traveling underneath his feet. Another Bang went off behind him, and he was thrown forward from the slight blast, doing a somersault in the air. He was able to right himself just before SkullMeramon threw another Metal Fireball at him, and then they were playing dodge ball in the sky. Reichmon was having a pretty easy time just moving out of the way, but he couldn't ever get in range for an attack, or pause to aim.

"Having fun yet?" SkullMeramon chuckled, pulling the cannon's cord again and cackling as it went off sooner than usual and disoriented the warrior of Darkness.

A blast of Black Theorem came hurdling towards the ground at that moment, and the fire Digimon was thrown off his feet. Reichmon settled in front of the cannon, looking a little battered, his chest armor scratched and gray from the firework. Instead of moving out of the way, he took the attack and fired his own directly after, from the same direction it had come. SkullMeramon gawked.

"Flame Chain!" The heated chain came at him, and Reichmon simply fired a blast at it, dissolving it in a burst of darkness. The look on SkullMeramon's inflamed face was one of nervous uncertainty.

As Reichmon took a step forward, SkullMeramon gulped and took one backwards.

"No! Don't come any closer!"

Reichmon glare was covered by his eyelids in a moment of self-calm. SkullMeramon blinked in confusion, then decided to take advantage of the given opportunity and lunge forward. But then Reichmon's eyes opened, and in an instant, all of the jewels littered across his golden-lined black armor sparkled to life, tracing the Warrior of Darkness in an outline of red light. SkullMeramon stopped in his tracks to defend his eyes, unable to get any closer.

"Red Cross!" A huge wave of red energy exploded from Reichmon's body, creating a huge surging circle around him. SkullMeramon was engulfed, his blue turning to purple, then red... then nothing.

"Fractal Code: Digitize," Reichmon scanned the data and rendered it back to its rightful place. The ground that was once cut in half sparkled with Digicode and was filled; the earth covered itself in flowers, all dryness gone.

Finally, carefully, the warrior of Darkness de-digivolved so that he was next to the cannon. The metal gleamed with a different emotion than before, now that it was free of its master's crazed control, shining at him.

Kouichi loaded the cannon, and pulled the cord.

A bright firework went off in the sky, shining pretty colors. Underneath its light, Kouichi laid on the ground, eyes closed, seeing darkness.

_**-(to be continued)-**_

Quick fact: "Hanabi" is Japanese for fireworks, which is made from the kanji characters for flower, "hana", and fire, "hi" (the "hi" is usually read as "bi" when with another kanji character). So literally, the translation for fireworks is 'fire flower'.

Bokomon's information at the beginning of the chapter implies that, even though the Digimon could not get through to the Human World, humans could still get to the Digital World, and Ophanimon was still able to get in contact with the other world. Also, it is implied that the "key to the human world" that Crusadermon and Dynasmon were lusting after, is the same "key" to the Gate that the guys are looking for now. Thought I'd make that clear.

One more thing: I told myself I'd get this done by Nov. 3. So I wrote practically half of this (the fight scene) Nov. 2nd. Sad, huh?

If you have stuck through this far, I am eternally grateful. I hope it was to your liking. Please stick around for the next installment of Return.


End file.
